The Inheritors
by BlameItOnTheNaquadah
Summary: When Daniel receives an unusual parcel nobody could have guessed the adventure that would unfold afterwards. Thieves, kidnappers, DNA, babysitters and an old enemy. Oh yes - and a bath tub. The usual fun and nonsense you'd expect when I'm left in charge of SG-1. I don't own Stargate - worse luck. Rated T because there's a couple of saucy moments later on!
1. An Unpleasant Reminder

**Disclaimer - I don't own Stargate, worse luck! May contain spoilers re: a certain Gou'ald lady from Season 1 and the Unas. Set post Continuum.**

**- o - o - o - o - o - o -**

**Chapter 1 An Unpleasant Reminder**

A peaceful and amicable silence reigned inside Dr Daniel Jackson's lab at the SGC.

The archaeologist sat at his desk, several large books open in front of him, papers scattered around and the ever present cup of coffee sitting amid the wreckage. He wrote a few lines, referenced it against an article in one of the books, turned a few pages then scrawled something else. He whispered occasionally under his breath, words in strange languages which few other Earth-bound humans even knew of.

Further along the desk, on the other side, sat Vala. She was also busy writing - in a huge, ring-bound notebook with a lurid, Barbie-pink pen that had a purple heart and feather bobbing about on the end. The feather bounced as she wrote translations, in a neat flowing script, of the grubby Gou'ald parchment that was propped up in front of her.

Every few minutes Vala paused to pop a peanut M and M into her mouth, or to fiddle with the glittery hair elastics on the end of her braids. Her ears were full of the soundtrack from 'Legally Blonde' which was playing on her Ipod, she forgot herself occasionally and broke out with the odd tuneful line or two before she became aware that Daniel was watching her, frowning.

"Sorry," Vala whispered, when it happened for about the third time.

Her partner pinched the top of his nose, glasses askew, resigned. "Come on." Daniel pushed his chair back and stood up. "I'll buy you a coffee. We've been at this for long enough."

"Lovely." Vala beamed her megawatt smile and threw her pen carelessly aside. Yanking out the ear buds, she sent the Ipod skittering across the desk.

Daniel sighed again, dropping his head to his chest. "Come on. Before you break something important."

Grinning unrepentantly, Vala skipped out of the office ahead of him. She nearly bumped into a man who stood close by in the hallway.

Apologizing, he moved away quickly towards the elevator.

"Beg your pardon!" Vala called after him.

The man half turned, lifting a hand in acknowledgement, but didn't speak.

"Who was that?" Daniel queried, watching as the stranger walked away.

Vala shrugged. "Not a clue, darling. He was passing as I opened the door. Well – I think he was passing." She frowned.

"You think?"

"He was right outside. I suppose that he was walking. Walking past, I mean. Although, he did seem rather still for someone who was meant to be moving."

The unknown man entered the elevator as the team mates watched. It moved upward towards the surface.

Daniel still stood in the corridor. He was sure that it must be nothing. The guy was just checking his cell phone or something. Or doing up his shoelace. Something menial – that was why he had been hovering outside.

_Or perhaps he was just an innocent person walking past. I'm over-reacting_, thought the archaeologist. _Too many years doing this job._

Vala was already half way along the corridor, any fleeting worries that she'd had banished by the thought of a free coffee and undoubtedly some ice-cream or Jello. She pressed the button to call the elevator.

"Come on, Daniel," she yelled, tossing one of her braids back over her shoulder. "What are you doing still standing there? I need you and your wallet here with me!"

"Hmm?" Eyebrows raised in faint bemusement, Daniel stuck his hands into his pockets and strolled towards her. The mildly suspicious incident was forgotten by both of them.

- o - o - o - o - o - o -

The sight of a certain blonde Colonel sitting at one of the tables in the mess hall made Vala squeak excitedly and shoot off across the room. She wrapped her arms around Sam Carter in a tight hug.

"Hey!" Sam cuddled her back, smiling widely. "How are you?"

"Good thank you," Vala loosened her hold partially on the Colonel but continued to grin up at her. She missed her ex-team mate terribly when she was off on the _George Hammond_, way across the galaxy somewhere. "How long can you stay for?"

Sam smiled. She had a bombshell to drop which she knew would please her alien friend immensely. "What would you say if I said that I could stay for at least a month?"

"What?" Daniel shoved Vala aside in a very un-gentlemanly manner and gave Sam a huge hug of his own. "A whole month? What's happening with the _Hammond _– have you broken it already?"

"No, not yet," Sam laughed. "It's scheduled for a regular overhaul and some small repairs to the fuselage, after a close encounter with a small asteroid a month or so back. So you got me here for a while. It'll be just like old times!"

"Yay!" Vala skipped on the spot, punching the air.

People around them barely turned a hair – after several years at the SGC most of the staff there were totally at home with the alien's wacky antics.

"We can have lots of girl's nights in! And out!" Vala rubbed her hands together gleefully. "Can I have the rest of the day off Daniel?" She smiled beseechingly up at the archaeologist, hands clasped in front of her chest, slate grey eyes wide.

"No!" he retorted. "You _work_ here, Vala. You're going to have plenty of down time in the next month, to hang out with Sam. You two can go off and do your thing then."

Vala folded her arms and scowled. "That's so unfair…" she began.

Sam cut in. "Hey – he's right! I'm here for a month, okay? We'll have plenty of time to hang out. And I'm going to have to do some work too, you know. Washington aren't going to let me just come and sit in the mess hall for the next four weeks!"

An unwilling little grin pulled the alien's lips up into a smile. "Okay."

"I'll buy you both coffee, if you like," Sam offered, eyebrows lifted.

"You know what, I'll take you up on that," Daniel linked arms with his old team mate. Vala slipped her arm around Sam from the opposite side, and together the three of them headed over to the line of hungry people waiting to get their lunch.

- o - o - o - o - o - o -

Later that afternoon one of the young airmen on base knocked at the door of Daniel's office and delivered a small packet.

Daniel signed for it, moving back to his desk and opening the little box straight away. "Hmmm," he muttered to himself, scratching his face. "Hmmmm."

"Hmmm what?" Vala queried, only half paying attention. She was fiddling with her Ipod which had run out of juice. "Have you seen the charger for this, darling?"

"The what?" Daniel wasn't really listening. He lifted the artifact out of the parcel and placed it on the desk in front of himself.

"The charger. What's tha….oh!" Vala dropped her Ipod without a second thought and snatched up the device which was laying in front of Daniel.

"Hey!" Protesting, he leaned over to take it back, but something in his team mate's expression stopped him.

Vala's face was flushed with emotion – she looked at the thing in her hand with a mixture of awe and revulsion. Her eyes were dark, angry, but there was something else in there too. They were bright with un-shed tears when she looked up at Daniel.

"What are you doing with a thing like this?" Vala's lips trembled as she tossed the central stone from Hathor's Gou'ald bodice back onto the desk. Her hands shook visibly as she wiped her mouth.

"I'm going to do some studies on it," Daniel told her gently, aware that he was treading on very shaky ground. "Sam's going to run some tests on it – try and find out how it works."

"Planning on raising a Jaffa army then are you, darling?" Vala asked, trying to make light of it. She pushed her stool back and headed for the office door. "Bathroom," she managed to stammer out, before beginning to run.

Daniel left it five minutes before he went looking for her. During that time he carefully re-wrapped the device and placed it back in it's box. It was apparent to even the short sighted archaeologist that the sight of Hathor's property had brought some very unpleasant memories to the forefront of Vala's mind.

_I should have thought_, he chided himself. _Stupid, Jackson. Stupid and thoughtless. Should've guessed that she'd have trouble keeping her head with something like that in front of her._

Daniel pushed his chair back and left the office. The bathroom was along the corridor just a short way – he hesitated outside for a moment before entering.

Vala was sat on the floor in the second cubicle, leaning back against the wall, eyes closed. She was as white as a sheet and breathing deeply. Realizing that she was no longer alone, her eyes opened a crack.

The sound of the toilet tank refilling with water was loud in the room.

"Did you throw up?" Daniel sat down next to her, closely, his arm against her's.

Nodding, Vala rubbed her hand tiredly over her face.

"I don't blame you." Moving his hand to lay it gently on her knee, Daniel grinned ruefully. " The memory of Hathor is enough to make anyone lose their lunch!"

Vala gave him a little smile before leaning her head against his shoulder. She didn't trust herself to speak just yet, afraid that there may still be some ammunition left within her churning innards to hurl down the toilet pan at a moment's notice.

Luckily, Daniel didn't seem to expect much response. He was content to just sit beside her, waiting for her rolling stomach to calm itself down and her pulse rate to lower to something more acceptable than a wild gallop.

It was a good five minutes or so later before Vala tilted her head to look up at him.

"Thank you, Daniel," she whispered, voice slightly hoarse. "I don't know what came over me. Must have been the shepherd's pie at lunch time."

"Don't even start with that," he warned her. "Just for once, admit that you felt a little bit overcome back there. I can take it, you know. Let someone share all that crap with you, just for once."

Silence. Then Vala peeped up at him again. Her beautiful grey-blue eyes were dark, afraid.

"I won't run," Daniel told her. He ran his finger along her jawline. "You know that I won't. If I was going to run screaming for the hills don't you think that I'd have done it by now? I've known you for over five years, after all! Plenty of time to abandon ship before this!"

Another tiny smile tugged at Vala's lips. She wiped her nose on her hand.

"I just – I don't know, it was just – seeing it there, suddenly. With no warning." Her voice strengthened as she spoke. "It made me think – remember things -." She swallowed and dipped her head again.

"It made you remember things that you didn't want to?" Daniel spoke very gently. "Things that you hate – that frighten you?"

Vala nodded. She closed her eyes. There was a small pause.

"You going to throw up again?" Daniel watched her, concerned.

"No."

They sat in silence for another few minutes.

"You feel able to get up off of the toilet floor yet?" Daniel could feel his backside getting stiffer and more uncomfortable with every minute that passed.

Vala gave him a grateful, genuine smile. "Yes. Sorry. Is your poor six getting sore?" She gave his backside a crafty pat as he stood.

"Just a little bit." Daniel put his hand out and hauled her to her feet. He placed a hand on each of her arms. "You sure that you're okay now?"

Biting her lip, Vala nodded. She had a bit more color back in her cheeks, and her eyes were clearer. "You won't tell anyone else about this, will you Daniel?"

"Of course not." Shaking his head, he dropped his arms but took her hand and led her quietly back to the office.

The rest of the day passed un-remarkably. Neither of them mentioned the device again and it remained in it's box, at one end of Daniel's desk.

Vala sat on the couch for the rest of the afternoon, curled up with her laptop and Ipod. She didn't say much but seemed to have recovered from her earlier, brief meltdown.

It was close on 1800 hours before Daniel suddenly blurted out, "Hey, Vala?"

"Mmmm?"

A pause. "Did you know Hathor?"

Vala looked over the top of the couch at him. She pursed her lips, narrowed her eyes then seemed to make up her mind. "Of course I knew Hathor. I mean, _I_ didn't, obviously. Qetesh did. A long time ago. I remember her memories though." Vala paused. "She was a proper cake, Hathor. You know? She put it out there. Totally."

"She was – she was a what now?" Daniel was genuinely confused.

"A cake. She was a cake. She flaunted her attributes, darling. A cake."

"You mean she was a tart?" Daniel couldn't help laughing.

Vala flapped her hand dismissively. "Same thing darling. Cake – tart. All delicious and edible Tau'ri puddings." She paused. "I'm not actually sure why you call someone after a pudding if they act like that. Why is it exactly?"

"I have no idea," smiled Daniel. "And I think you mean that she 'put out'."

"Put out what?" Vala, feeling much more like herself again, had lost interest in the conversation.

Her team mate shook his head. "Don't worry. I've met her. In person. I know all about her putting out!"

"Well, lucky you darling. Did she 'put out' better than I do?" Vala raised her eyebrows, openly flirting with him now.

"Stop it." Trying with not much success to look cross, Daniel stood up, shutting the lid on his laptop at the same time. "Come on, I'll buy you dinner."

"A date?" Vala looked hopeful.

"Sure – as long as you like mess hall food." Daniel opened the door.

"Well, we really are pushing the ship out today aren't we? Two dates in one day." Vala nudged him with her shoulder as she went past, tightening up the elastics on her braids.

Daniel thought about correcting the whole boat/ship malpropism, took one look at the alien who was rapidly heading towards the elevators with his wallet in her hand and decided against it. He pulled his office door shut then followed quickly after her, grateful that his credit card was in his jacket pocket. He felt for it, half a second before he saw her waving it at him.

"Vala!" he growled, following the sound of her chuckle into the elevator.

**TBC...**


	2. A Strange Little Mystery

**Chapter 2 A Strange Little Mystery**

All remained peaceful in SG-1's world for the next week or so.

Sam and Vala had multiple opportunities to hang out together – in the gym, the mess hall, at O'Malley's, at the bowling alley. The two women managed to con the archaeologist into coming roller skating with them one night after work – he refused to put on a pair of skates but was quite happy to watch the pair of them whizzing about on the floor in front of him.

Sam was good at skating, once she overcame the embarrassment of being a full grown woman tootling about in a pair of wheeled boots. She grinned sheepishly a couple of times as she passed Daniel, before loosening up and forgetting herself in the moment. The next time that she went sailing past the archaeologist she didn't even spare him a glance, as she ducked in and out of the slower skaters around her.

Daniel already knew that Vala's roller skills were on another level entirely. She skated as if it were a completely natural way of moving for her, as if the skates were part of her actual physique. The alien moved so fast and fluidly that it almost made Daniel's eyes water as she flew past.

Vala wore tight black three quarter length leggings and a long blue top made of some kind of material that resembled gossamer – it floated out around her in a silky trail as she skated. She had pulled her hair into two pigtails, held in place with blue feathery hair elastics – they streamed out behind as she whizzed past again, grinning.

After a while Daniel realized that the only person he had been watching on the rink was his team mate. He noticed the way she moved, dipping and curving as she glided by the others around her. He didn't even know where Sam had gone – he'd forgotten all about her. Shaking himself out of his reverie, Daniel saw her approaching sedately from his left, and a few seconds later Vala reappeared, swirling to a halt against the barrier in front of him.

"Had enough?" Daniel inquired, looking at his team mate's flushed cheeks and eyes that glittered like diamonds.

"Nope." Vala tossed one of her pigtails back over her shoulder. "But I rather think that our time's up."

Sam nodded, indicating the large clock hanging over the center of the rink. "Yup, we've had our hour. Time to go."

"That was such fun though, wasn't it?" Vala grinned, as she skated off languidly. "Meet you at the exit, darling!" she called back as Sam joined her and they headed to retrieve their shoes.

Daniel shook his head, chuckling quietly, and moved slowly after the two women. He had only gone a few feet before he stopped suddenly, frowning. Instinctively, he ducked into the shadows of a pillar, watching someone who stood close to the far wall on the other side of the room.

A nondescript man in his early to mid thirties was quite obviously watching Sam and Vala, as they arrived at the front of the queue, took their shoes and moved away.

As Daniel continued to study him the man took out a cell phone and called someone. He looked around briefly – the archaeologist shrank back behind the pillar.

_Is that guy looking for me?_ Daniel wondered, before slipping through the crowds around the edge of the room and heading toward his two friends.

The unknown man appeared to be still searching for someone – he remained on the phone, scanning left and right continuously as he spoke.

Daniel caught sight again of Vala where she sat on a bench, tying up the laces of her Converse boots.

"Do you see him?" he asked, quickly, coming up suddenly behind her. "That guy over there, by the desk? Do you recognize him?"

Looking up, she frowned. "That fellow talking on his cell phone, do you mean? He looks – hold on – is he – I'm not sure if – he was outside your office! I think - he was the man who I walked into!"

"I thought so too," Daniel looked grim.

The man, aware that he had now been seen, moved quickly towards the exit.

"What's this?" Sam asked, intrigued.

"I don't know." Subconsciously Daniel moved closer towards Vala. It was a long time since she'd been kidnapped from the _Bianco Fiore_ restaurant by Athena, but the archaeologist often thought back to those worrying days, if he and the alien were ever outside in their down time together. He remembered it now.

Daniel continued to watch intently, as the unknown Peeping-Tom reached the exit and vanished through.

"A man was stood outside of Daniel's office last week," Vala was filling Sam in on the information. "Or he may have been walking. We're not sure. But he was in my way and I walked into him. That's all. He must work at the Mountain though, right? I mean, he couldn't get inside otherwise?"

"You would think so." Daniel was still very edgy. "I think that we should get home. Back to the SGC I mean."

The three of them moved off towards the car park, all now looking for anything out of the ordinary. Everything seemed absolutely normal, however and they didn't see the suspicious man again.

As he drove them all back to the Mountain Daniel began to think that perhaps he was over-reacting.

"Well, it's better to be safe than sorry," Sam reminded him.

"True." Nodding, Daniel turned into his parking bay as they pulled up back at base. "I'll go and let Mitchell know. He's in charge tonight, right? We can tell Landry in the morning."

The threesome went their separate ways once down at Level 25 – Vala and Sam towards their quarters, and Daniel off to the SGC offices, two floors below. He felt a little ridiculous when he arrived – now that they were away from the roller rink it all seemed rather trivial. Was he the same man from outside his office, earlier in the week? Had he really been watching them? Or was it just the product of Daniel's over-reactive imagination, a side-effect of too many years working at the SGC?

Mitchell laughed when he heard the tale, but there was a wariness about his eyes and he noted it all down in the log book and on the computer.

"Better safe than sorry," SG-1's CO grinned.

"You sound just like Sam," Daniel told him, as the intercom buzzed suddenly. It kept on buzzing – whoever wanted their attention must be pressing 'call' repeatedly.

Frowning, Mitchell walked over to it and held down the 'talk' button.

Vala's panicked voice broke out across the room.

"Mitchell? Mitchell! Have you got Daniel there? Mitchell? Can you hear me?"

"I hear you, Princess! Stop shouting! What is it?" Mitchell looked across at his other team mate, mystified.

"Is Daniel there? I need Daniel! Is he there?"

"I'm here." Rising from his seat, Daniel moved closer to the intercom. "Calm down Vala! What is it?"

"You need to come here." She sounded breathless. "You need to come to your office. It's gone – that horrible thing. Hathor's device – in the box – it's gone!"

Without a word Daniel turned and ran from the room towards the elevators, Mitchell close behind. They raced out at level 18, to find the door to Daniel's office wide open and Vala sat inside at the desk. The empty box which had held the Gou'ald creating device lay in front of her, empty.

"Where the…" Daniel looked around the office, but knew that it was to no avail. He had carefully put away the artifact before he left earlier in the evening. He had locked the door. Someone, during their absence at the roller rink, had broken in and stolen it.

"I told you." Vala sounded less hysterical now that the two men were with her.

Daniel squeezed her shoulder briefly. "Are you okay?"

Vala nodded. "Mmmm. Of course, silly." She tossed her hair back and smiled brightly from behind the mask which she slapped on during occasions like this. "I just became a bit - excited - that's all, when I came in and saw it missing."

"What are you doing here anyway?" Daniel looked quizzically at her.

Vala waved her Ipod at him. "I left it charging up. I came in and noticed the lid open on the box and when I looked in, well the horrid thing was gone!"

"I don't want to know how you managed to get in here," Mitchell shook his head, resigned to his team mate's ability to break and enter any room in the SGC. "You think that was the only thing taken?"

"I suppose." Daniel gave his office a cursory inspection, but everything else seemed untouched. "I mean, we can check but I'm guessing that they came for just the one thing."

"Why would anyone want to steal the device?" Mitchell was bemused. "It's not like the Gou'ald are around anymore to use it. I mean, only Hathor could use it anyway, couldn't she?" He looked at Vala, quizzically.

She rested her chin on her hand and watched him with grave eyes.

"Princess?"

There was a long pause.

"Not exactly." The SGC's own ex-Gou'ald spoke quietly as she fiddled with the earphone lead from her Ipod. "Hathor was the mother of all Gou'ald, supposedly, but others could – at certain times – there's a substance that female Gou'ald produce. Rather like normal female hormones I suppose." She paused, clearing her throat. "I mean – sometimes, others could create symbiotes too. Only in meagre quantities. Nothing like in the amounts that _that_ filthy hussy could!" Vala's eyes flashed as she looked up at the two men.

Daniel felt a tightness in his throat – a rush of empathy for his team mate led him to reach for her hand and squeeze it gently. "Nice work with the whole 'filthy hussy' thing," he told her.

Vala gave him a small smile. She didn't pull her hand away but left it in his.

"So, you think there's a Gou'ald out there who's gonna – you know – well," Mitchell shook his head as he contemplated the idea of a new batch of ancient gods running amok in the galaxy.

"Make little symbiote babies?" Vala finished, dryly.

"Well, yeah!"

"You'd need a Gou'ald first. To be, you know, fertile. Feeling frisky, so to speak." She raised her eyebrows and bit her lip. Saucy Vala was rising to the fore. "Raunchy, turned up - you know!"

"Turned on." Daniel corrected her without thinking. "And stop it!"

"What about Charlotte Mayfield?" Mitchell rubbed his chin, contemplatively. "She'd be up for pulling a stunt like this, dontcha think? Plus, she's got the right equipment! I mean, being a Gou'ald, and all that. And a woman."

Vala nodded, soberly.

"Guess that someone _was_ watching you at the rink tonight," Mitchell added. "Keeping an eye on you guys, while their accomplice came sneakin' in to the SGC to steal that Jaffa maker of Hathor's."

"But who?" Daniel sounded mystified. "Everyone who works here is vigorously checked. Even that guy who was watching us, he must have been checked in the first place – so who is he?"

"I'll try and find out." Mitchell tweaked Vala's hair. "You okay, Princess?"

Vala nodded, but couldn't quite make her face look totally convincing.

"I think I'll stay on base tonight," Daniel spoke carefully. "Just in case of any developments. Or in case you find anything out, Mitchell."

"Sure." His CO headed off out of the office. "See you guys in the morning then, if not before!"

There was silence for a while after he left, before Vala said "I don't need looking after, Daniel."

"Yes you do." His reply was succinct. "Charlotte Mayfield and her cronies kidnapped you before, and over my dead body are they going to do it again."

A pause.

"I'd rather that it wasn't over your dead body, darling. I much prefer you living and breathing." Vala was smiling now.

A reluctant grin tugged at Daniel's mouth. "You know what I mean." His expression sobered and became almost grim. He came around the desk to stand close to Vala, taking both of the hands in his own. "That time when you were taken – well, I don't want to have to go through that again. It's easy to forget, that you, Vala, are an extremely valuable commodity to a lot of ruthless people out there in the galaxy."

"So are you," she reminded him. "So are all of SG-1. And Sam."

"I know." Nodding, Daniel transferred his hand to the tops of her arms, rubbing them gently. "But you're different. You're an ex-Gou'ald host, and that's a pretty big prize to most of our enemies."

Vala gazed searchingly into his face, shadow-blue eyes wide and troubled. "You think someone is after me?"

"I don't know. But until we do, I don't want you leaving the Mountain, okay? For anything."

She frowned. "But Sam –."

"I'm sure Sam will understand. And it'll probably only be for a day or two."

"I suppose so." Vala sighed dramatically. "What about you though? I bet _you _don't have to stay on base until the cows go to market!"

"Until they do what?" Daniel looked completely confused.

"The cows go to market, darling. It means a long time." Vala had picked up her Ipod by now and was twisting one of the ear buds into her ear, clearly a sign that the conversation was over.

"You mean, 'until the cows come home'," Daniel chuckled. "It's the pigs who go to market!"

"I'm sure they do darling." Moving away, Vala put the other ear bud in place and turned on the Ipod. "Goodnight then." She waved prettily and headed off towards the elevator and her quarters below.

Daniel shook his head and went back inside his office. He paused, looking once more into the empty box, before pulling one of his ancient tomes from a shelf and flicking through until he found the page that he wanted.

_The Egyptian goddess Qetesh,_ the script read. There was a very old drawing of a person who looked nothing like Vala. Other goddesses were also mentioned - Isis, Anuket, Bastet - the list went on.

Taking his glasses off Daniel leaned his head in his hands. How many goddesses were still running about out there?! Was Vala correct? _Could_ any Gou'ald female make symbiotes, at certain times? Even if only in small ammounts?

_If it is Charlotte Mayfield out there_, he thought, _and she really does want to create a Jaffa army using Hathor's device, plus a whole batch of symbiotes, then we are in serious trouble._

Daniel sighed as he leaned back in his chair. They'd just have to sit and wait, to see what happened.

Sit and wait.

**TBC...**

**- o - o - o - o - o - o -**

**Ok - I may have given a slight tweak there to standard SG-1 canon in this chapter. But seriously - I don't think the Gou'ald would have been dumb enough to only leave Hathor in charge of creating armies and spawning symbiotes! **

**Yes, I know that they have Queens who pop the little blighters out with alarming regularity, but I've always been intrigued with Hathor, and her device, and wanted to create a story around it. **

**Onward!**


	3. Never Go Off On Your Own!

**Chapter 3 Never Go Off On Your Own!**

The following morning both Daniel and Vala scoured his office from top to bottom, but to no avail. Hathor's fertility device was nowhere to be found.

General Landry sent messages to Area 51 and all off-world sites where SGC personnel were stationed, to instruct everyone on the importance of maintaining vigilance at all times. Numerous further checks in all areas and on every equipment store were carried out across the galaxy and beyond, but they all brought back the same result. No device.

"Well," Vala banged her empty tea mug down onto Daniel's desk. "I can't pretend that I'm sad to see the back of the horrible old thing. I know it's an important artifact, and I know it shouldn't have been stolen but personally I'm happy never to have to look at it again."

"As long as whoever it was doesn't come back and help themselves to any more of our stuff," Daniel said, somberly. "Let's just hope that this isn't the start of something bigger."

Vala fell silent. She was thinking of her Kor-Mak bracelets, downstairs in the SGC lock up. Her voice changer and Gou'ald healing device were hidden safely away in her room but, as much as she hated those bracelets, they belonged to her and she didn't want them stolen.

"Daniel…" she began.

"Go and check on them." The archaeologist sighed, guessing Vala's train of thought and beginning to realize that the likelihood of getting her to do any work that day was rapidly diminishing by the minute.

"Thank you darling." Patting his cheek, she skipped off out of his office.

The bracelets were quite safe – Vala studied them closely but they clearly hadn't been touched since she'd last come to check on them. Frowning, she left the lock up and headed towards the mess hall.

_Who would want Hathor's device?_ Vala twirled the end of one of her braids around her fingers as she meandered slowly along the hallway. Athena was almost certainly the only Gou'ald left on Earth, if indeed she was still here at all. Any other false gods had vanished into the woodwork after the fall of the System Lords and rise of the Lucian Alliance. _Could someone else, another Gou'ald, have taken the device?_

Vala thought back to the man at the roller rink. He hadn't seemed to be a Gou'ald, and he certainly hadn't acted like one. _When was the last time that a Gou'ald went skulking about in the shadows?_ she thought, then snorted derisively. But it seemed too much of a coincidence that the unknown man had been watching them on the same night that the device had vanished.

Shaking her head free of all the confusing thoughts whirling in her pretty head, Vala arrived at the mess hall and skipped off towards the deserts, worries already forgotten.

o – o – o – o –

Daniel hadn't forgotten however. As Vala stood in line wondering whether to chose Jello, chocolate cake or banoffee pie her beloved was closeted in with Walter. The two men were going through the many security recordings from the camera outside of the archaeologist's office.

"Here, Dr Jackson." The erstwhile technician indicated the time in the top right of the screen. "This is just after you left to take Colonel Carter and Ms Mal Doran out last night."

"Keep going." Daniel leaned in over Walter's shoulder as they both studied the pictures before them, which were running at eight times normal speed. 19.00 hours, 19.30, 20.00, 21.00.

"We left the rink at just after nine last night," Daniel said. "The guy watching us – he was talking on his phone just before – huh!"

The archaeologist made an odd noise in his throat and pointed to the screen, which had just gone black. The time said 21. 04 hours. Less than a minute later and the picture re-appeared. There was nobody in sight along the hallway.

"Dammit!" Daniel swore loudly. "They were quick! Guess that was the time that it was taken though."

"Hold on Dr Jackson." Walter began tapping away again at the controls to the CCTV cameras. "I have an idea. What if they got out at the floor above and came down the fire exit?" The technician pulled up the feed from the camera outside the elevator on level 17, the floor above Daniel's office. The time in the corner of the screen now said 21.03. But exactly the same thing happened – blackout on the video feed for less than a minute, followed by an empty corridor and no sign of anything suspicious.

Walter's face grew graver by the second, if that were possible. He went to another camera, right up at the surface. It looked out at the parking lot. The time in the corner of the screen ran from 21.05 until 21.20. Nothing.

Walter was just about to turn it off when Daniel suddenly said "Wait!". A tall man, on the far left of the camera's vision, walking as deep as possible in the shadows and heading away from the base. He moved quickly and went to a nondescript looking car, driving away immediately.

"Who was that?" Daniel looked at Walter.

Walter shook his head. "I have no idea."

o – o – o – o –

Vala and Sam were called to watch the video feed from the parking lot camera, both dutifully observing the unknown man and giving the same response. They didn't know him.

"The car was driven to the local shopping mall where it was abandoned. So no leads there. We have a public CCTV camera trained on it but as yet nobody has come back to claim the vehicle. Whoever was driving it didn't want to be followed home," Walter told them.

"How do you explain the video feed cutting out like that though?" Daniel pondered, arms folded. There was silence for a moment or two.

"If he is a Gou'ald…." Vala paused, thinking, "then he could have had a Hara'kesh, I suppose. He could have stolen it from an Ashrak." She swallowed. "Or he could be an Ashrak."

"Ashrak…" began Walter.

"Yeah, like the guy who came after Jolinar when she was with me," Sam reminded him.

"Oh – that charming fellow." Daniel widened is eyes at her. "The one who tried to kill you, you mean?"

Sam grinned ruefully. "Yeah, that's him."

"The Hara – hara – what did you call it, Ms Mal Doran?" Walter asked Vala.

"Hara'kesh. It's similar to the Kara kesh – ribbon device." The SGC's own ex-Gou'ald did not look happy. "An Ashrak is a very secretive person, the nature of his job requires it. They constructed the Hara'kesh years ago, to harness all of the powers of the ribbon device in a less obvious form. You can customize them. I mean, if one belongs to you, it's possible."

"Could you customize it to knock out CCTV monitors?" Daniel watched her intently as he spoke.

Vala nodded. "Mmm. With an electrical overload. He would probably have had to touch it though, or be very close to the monitor."

"And we know that they can wipe peoples' memories with them," added Sam. "He probably just walked right into the SGC and then out again, making everyone forget that he was ever here!"

There was a lengthy silence.

"We need to tell Landry," Sam told them, somberly.

o – o – o –

General Landry's bushy eyebrows dropped low over his eyes as the three members of SG-1, plus Walter, stood in front of him later that afternoon.

There were a lot of interruptions, mainly from Vala, as Daniel related all that they had discovered or theorized, regarding the unknown man.

When they'd finished Landry expression was ferocious. "Well, whoever he is – he's up to no good. Clearly not working alone either." He wagged a finger at both Sam and Vala. "Doesn't seem much point in confining you two to the base as these people can clearly come walking in here without as much as a by-your-leave. But be on your guard – do you understand? All of you! Even you!" He frowned at Walter.

"Yes sir!" the poor technician nodded vigorously.

Landry dismissed them and they all trooped somewhat dejectedly out of his office.

"Are you going to tell Jack?" Vala asked Sam, as they headed towards Daniel's office.

The Colonel shook her head. "Tell him what? And it would only worry him. And probably cause unauthorized use of the Asgard transport beam!"

They headed on in silence for a while before Sam stopped suddenly. "You want to go the gym? I know I feel like I need to vent! Fancy having a turn on the punch bag?"

Vala grinned. "Definitely!"

Spinning about, she turned the full effects of her cosmic smile on Daniel who blinked. "Your boring old scribbles will still be there later this afternoon, won't they?"

"Ah – I suppose." Daniel sighed. "Go on then. I'll meet you two for coffee in the mess hall." He checked his watch. "An hour okay?"

"Thank you darling," Vala skipped away.

Sam grinned. "Thank you Daniel!"

- o - o - o - o - o - o -

Alone in his office a few minutes later, Daniel found it hard to concentrate on his work, thoughts of stolen devices and Ashrak assassins still whirling about in his head.

When he had told Vala that the Trust would take her again over his dead body, he had meant it. However, he was beginning to think now that they didn't want either her or Sam. Any adversary would have had ample opportunity at the roller rink, but clearly the only reason somebody was watching them on that occasion was to allow an accomplice to take Hathor's device from the SGC with the minimal chance of being apprehended.

Daniel needed air. Pushing back his chair he headed up towards the surface. He wasn't due to meet Sam and Vala for another hour or so - on reaching the parking lot he jumped into his car and drove off towards a local park.

A half hour stroll later and the archaeologist felt suitably revived from his interlude in the sunshine. Heading back towards his car he spotted a small refreshment stall. With a smile Daniel headed over to it and purchased three large double choc cookies.

As he turned away, slipping the change into his pocket, he realized where he was. He had parked in the car lot that they had all seen on the CCTV recordings earlier. Gazing around, he couldn't believe his own eyes. Right there – still in it's parking space – the car that the tall intruder had driven away from the SGC.

Daniel wandered over nonchalantly and walked slowly around the vehicle. It was a nondescript, silver colored, family type saloon car with Colorado plates. No distinguishing features at all. As he stood next to it, a tow truck proclaiming that it hailed from "Walt's Friendly Auto Service" pulled up along side.

"Hey!" A chubby, bearded mechanic leaned out of the open window. "This car yours?"

"No, oh no." Daniel shook his head, moving back slightly.

"Cool. We gotta tow it, man. Okay Walt!" Chubby called to another man who had climbed down from the other side.

Walt pulled a baseball cap down over his balding pate and scratched his nose. "Yer wan' a get a coffee?"

Chubby leaned across to look out of the other window. "They got moccachino?"

Walt yelled across the parking lot towards the refreshment stall. "You got mocha's there?"

The young woman serving the refreshments nodded. "Sure."

That obviously decided things for Chubby. He clambered out of the cab and wandered off in the direction of the coffee, Walt strolling along behind.

Daniel moved away to lean up against a wall. He was beginning to wish that he'd bought himself a coffee as well. Even as he began to think about perhaps buying a drink, a black station wagon pulled up smoothly next to the abandoned car. Daniel ducked into a doorway and watched.

The tall man, instantly recognizable from the CCTV recordings, climbed out from the passenger side, quickly unlocked the silver car and drove away.

Jeff and Walt didn't even realize that anything untoward had happened. The coffee stand and the CCTV camera were both on the far side of the tow truck, which obscured the view of the silver car – blithely unaware, the two mechanics carried on slurping their drinks.

Daniel went to shout something, to tell them, but immediately thought better of it. As he moved from the shadow of the doorway he caught sight of the man from the roller rink who was still parked up in the black station wagon and looking directly at him.

Mr Roller Rink grinned through the windshield and pointed over the archaeologist's shoulder.

Even without looking Daniel knew what he'd find. He sighed, turned and made eye contact with another man who had appeared from out of the shop behind him.

"Hi," Daniel said, weakly.

"Good afternoon." His adversary gripped the archaeologist's elbow and marched him swiftly towards the station wagon, carefully but quickly bundling him inside.

"Dr Jackson." Roller Rink Guy nodded at Daniel, before slipping the car into drive and heading away, out of the parking lot and towards the center of town.

**TBC...**

**- o - o - o - o - o - o -**

**The information in this chapter about Ashraks, ribbon devices and the customized Ashrak Hara'kesh is all genuine Stargate fact and can be found on Stargate Wiki. :-)**


	4. It's Probably Nuthin'

**Chapter 4 It's Probably Nuthin'.**

Mitchell was in the middle of a telephone conversation when Vala marched into his office and stood in front of him with her arms folded. "Have you seen Daniel?"

He held up one hand, warningly.

She snorted and shifted her hands to her hips.

Mitchell carried on talking – to Dierdre down in the commissary.

"Have you seen Daniel?" Vala repeated, louder. She leaned forward, both hands on the desk, glaring. "Sam and I can't find him anywhere. It's an emergency – he might have been kidnapped!"

Mitchell covered the mouthpiece. "Princess – no, I haven't seen Jackson. Have you checked his office?"

Vala rolled her eyes. "Obviously. And the mess hall. And the gate room, the gym, the locker room. And now here. He's missing."

"I'm sure he's not." Mitchell spoke back into the phone. "Hold on a there Dierdre. I'll call you back." Sighing, he put the receiver down and frowned up at his team mate. "Jackson's a grown man, Vala. He's allowed to go off and do his own thing. When'd you last see him?"

Pouting now, she backed off a little. "Well – about an hour and a half ago."

"Vala, that don't qualify as the length of time required to report someone as missing! He's probably messing about in some store room somewhere. You know him."

"He's not in any store room. We've looked in all of the store rooms!" Vala folded her arms again. "What if he's been kidnapped?"

"Who'd want to kidnap Jackson?" Mitchell's expression was incredulous. "Come on Princess, that's ridiculous."

"Well, where is he then?"

"Look," Mitchell stood and came around his desk to lay his hand on her shoulder. _Jackson and Vala__ sure got one heck of a funny relationship at the best of times_, he thought.

There was no denying however that each felt fiercely protective of the other.

Mitchell tried to calm Vala down. "He might have gone to his apartment – could be bills that need paying or something. When was the last time he checked in there, do you know?"

"Hmm." Vala relaxed slightly. "Well, actually, he did say yesterday that he needed to go home at some point. Something about the electricity being cut off if he didn't pay the company." She pursed her lips. "How can you cut off electricity though? I mean it's not like you can see it, is it? Not like chopping off an arm or a leg or something. This planet is very primitive, darling, I keep telling you. You should all be using Naquadah generators."

"You're probably right." Mitchell shepherded the now more-amenable Vala from his office. "There you go. Jackson's paying his bills. Come back only if he's not here by sundown."

Not entirely convinced, but feeling more cheerful, Vala stuck her tongue out at his now-closed office door and went to wait in Daniel's office.

o – o – o – o –o- o -

Mitchell's office door smacked back hard on it's hinges and crashed into a filing cabinet close by. A pile of papers went swirling to their doom, as they mingled with the spilled coffee from a mug that had been standing alongside.

"It's sundown!" Vala stood in front of Mitchell, furious, hands on hips. Her eyes were a stormy grey, angry and scared. "It's sundown and he's not back! Something's happened to him!"

Mitchell stood, beginning to feel uneasy. He moved towards Vala but she backed off, folding her arms.

_Crap_, thought the Colonel. She looked to be heading for a blinder of a meltdown, the sort that only Jackson could talk her out of. And if the archaeologist hadn't returned yet, then trouble really could be brewing.

"Just – just calm down, Vala." He pointed to the chair. "Sit."

She sat reluctantly, arms folded.

"When did you last see him?" Mitchell picked up the telephone receiver.

"I told you. After lunch. He was supposed to meet us for coffee at about…" screwing up her eyes, the alien counted through the twenty four hour clock. "…about 15.00 hours. But he didn't. He hasn't!"

"Ok, Princess, don't panic yet." Mitchell dialed the surface, spoke briefly to the airman on duty, then hung up and dialed Walter. There was silence for a while before the Colonel "Uh huh"ed and "Yeah"ed then said "Okay," replacing the receiver as he spoke.

"Well?" Vala's apprehensive face watched him closely.

Mitchell took a breath. "Jackson signed out at 13.52 hours. Nobody's seen him since."

"Cameron…." Vala stood, fists clenched at her sides.

Mitchell held up a hand. "Walter's trying to find his locator chip. Don't start panicking yet!"

Vala nodded, lips pressed tightly together as she moved away across the room.

Almost immediately the telephone rang. Mitchell snatched it up. A few seconds later, another "Okay" and he hung up. "C'mon."

o – o – o – o – o - o -

Sam caught up with them as they came out of the elevator on level 28. "Any news?" she asked.

"We'll see." Mitchell didn't break his stride, but continued to head for the control room, Vala hurrying behind him.

"Sir!" Walter beckoned them over as soon as they appeared in the doorway. "Dr Jackson's chip is still functioning perfectly normally. He appears to be over on the far east of town."

"If it's actually him," Vala added grimly. She remembered how her own locator chip had been removed, during her kidnap by Athena.

"Well, it's all we got to go on." Mitchell nodded. "Thanks Walter. Ladies, shall we?"

Vala shot off towards the locker rooms.

Sam followed more slowly. She glanced at Mitchell. "You worried?"

"I dunno." Shrugging, he wrinkled his nose. "I mean, he's only been gone a few hours, could be anything. Heck, he could just be doing the grocery shopping for all we know! It's just.."

"Something doesn't seem quite right?" Sam turned in to the elevator.

"You got it." Mitchell looked searchingly at his old friend. "And if someone's gonna find trouble, you can bet it'll be Jackson."

o – o – o – o – o - o -

"I wish that Muscles was here," Vala whispered, about an hour later. She stood with Sam and Mitchell just inside a narrow alleyway, across the road from where Daniel's locator chip was sending it's signal. There was a row of boring looking shops ahead of them – a grocer's, a drug store, a couple of takeaway outlets and a small dentist's surgery, which looked to be closed.

"I bet he does too," Sam replied. "He wasn't looking forward to the latest round of meetings back on Dakara! He'd probably much rather be here."

Vala sighed.

All three of them carried side arms inside their jackets, plus Mitchell had a Zat as well.

He fiddled with the ear piece on his radio, nodding towards the small surgery as he spoke. "Signal's coming from there. I'll go in the front – you two around the back, okay? And quietly. It might be nothing."

"If it's nothing, then why has he gone to the dentist's?" Vala asked, worriedly.

Sam squeezed her arm.

"Go!" Mitchell nodded forward, and as nonchalantly as possible, the three of them sauntered across the road and split up.

- o - o - o - o - o - o -

Mitchell headed to the front door and peered in. He could see a small waiting area, a receptionist's booth and various magazines and leaflets, but no other signs of life. Cautious of kicking down the door of what looked like nothing more than a quiet little dental clinic, he decided to wait for a few minutes and see what his two team mates turned up.

Sam and Vala had already gone up the fire escape and were busy breaking in, using the ex-space pirate's little lock pick.

Sometimes, Sam thought, the old ways are the best. Just a few seconds later and they were inside, Vala using some other little device which she'd had secreted about her person to disable the alarm.

The two women moved stealthily along the corridor, which was filled with a soft light from the setting sun. There were several doors leading off on each side – they quietly opened them all, only to reveal two treatment rooms, a bathroom and another small waiting room. At the end of the corridor a staircase led down to the first floor. A narrower one led upwards.

"Which way?" Vala whispered.

"Up." Sam indicated the upper floor with her head. "Cam's downstairs, he can check there."

Very quietly, they moved over to the staircase and began to climb.

Downstairs, Mitchell saw his team mates cross the head of the stairs – muttering under his breath, he pulled a small alien gadget from his own pocket. Holding it against the door frame he proceeded to turn the metal of the door lock into an odd, grey crumbly substance that disintegrated when he touched it.

Gingerly, Mitchell pushed open the door and crept inside. He moved through the waiting area, peering briefly into the receptionist's small office, before heading further along a hallway that ran adjacent to the staircase. Finding another small treatment room, bathroom and tiny kitchen he was bout to move on towards what looked like the doorway to a cellar when an unusual noise stopped him. Mitchell retraced his steps and entered the kitchen.

_It's nothing_, he thought. _Might not be anything_.

But the sound of the metal element cooling in a recently-boiled kettle had pinged loudly in the silence of the building. Mitchell hesitated, then touched it. It was hot.

_Crap!_ Mitchell prepped his Zat. _So we ain't alone._

Turning towards the upper level and his team mates, the Colonel never saw Roller Rink Guy who came suddenly from behind him. One shot at close range from another Zat and Mitchell dropped like a lead weight on the end of one of Jack O'Neill's fishing lines.

He came to several minutes later, with a blinder of a headache. Opening his eyes a crack, he found himself lying on the floor of what seemed to be a small store room. There was a single window high up near the ceiling, triple glazed. Shelves lined one wall and a large refrigerator hummed in the corner. A fluorescent strip light illuminated the tiny lock up.

Mitchell struggled into a sitting position, groaning, then froze at the sight before him.

"Hey, Mitchell." Daniel, sitting cross legged in the corner, lifted his hand in acknowledgement. "Having fun?"

o – o – o – o - o - o -

Meanwhile, Sam and Vala had crept upstairs and reached the small square landing on the floor above. There was no light here and both doors that they found were closed. Opening the first one, they discovered a large, smart, bathroom with a spacious corner bath.

"What's that?" Vala nodded her head towards a panel set in the tiled wall next to the bath.

Sam leaned in closer. "It just looks like some kind of temperature control gauge. There's a thermometer, look, and an acidity regulator. That there -," she pointed, "is a water softener."

Vala raised her eyebrows. "Posh bath."

"Uh huh."

Another door led from the bathroom – it was only an airing cupboard, filled with laundry.

Sam led the way back across the small landing to the other door. They found another treatment room, but with differences. There was no dentist chair, but a doctor's couch against the wall instead. Several stainless steel dressings trolleys were lined up with swabs, syringes, needles and similar medical paraphernalia, all placed neatly in receivers. There were cupboards against one wall, Sam looked in – they were full of medical supplies and equipment.

Vala opened a small refrigerator. Frowning, she pulled out another plastic receiver, which was full of small glass vials. Lifting one, she read "F.H Batch One."

"What's that?" Sam leaned over her friend's shoulder.

"F.H Batch Three," Vala continued to pick up the small glass bottles. "F.H Ba.. - no wait. Unas Derivative One. Unas Derivative Four. Sam – what is all this?"

Sam shook her head. Her expression was grim. "I don't know. But something tells me it's not good."

"That's right, Colonel Carter."

Both women whirled around, to see Charlotte Mayfield standing in the doorway, with Tall Guy, Mr Roller Rink and another man beside her. All four of them had pistols levelled at the SG-1 team mates.

Sam sighed, resignedly.

Vala rolled her eyes and huffed.

"Ladies, your weapons please." Charlotte held out an imperious hand.

Regretfully, Sam and Vala gave up their two sidearms.

"Now, take a seat." Charlotte Mayfield smiled, and it wasn't pleasant. "I really would like to fill you in on what's going on here, before we kill you!"

**TBC...**

**Okay friends - silly season approaches at full speed! **

**Hope that you all have a very Merry Christmas, if that is your thing, or a Happy Hanukkah, or whatever else goes on at this time of year! **

**Next chapter up hopefully between Christmas and New Year, depending on the Klingon's who live with me and whether I can escape their clutches for long enough to upload a chapter :-)**


	5. How To Create An Army

**Apologies for the late posting - the fun of the festivities prevented me posting on time.**

**Secondly, dear reader, you may need to ready yourself for the ingestion of a large pinch of salt when reading this chapter. I've stretched and tweaked part of Stargate law/lore regarding the reproduction of symbiotes. But in my defence, nobody ever said that it _couldn't_ be done like this!**

**- o - o - o - o - o - o -**

**Chapter 5 How To Create An Army.**

Vala and Sam looked at each other, before both begrudgingly took seats.

Charlotte Mayfield smirked and folded her arms. She remained standing, between the two team mates and the doorway. The Gou'ald wore her usual attire - smart business suit and blouse, with eye wateringly high heels.

Tall Guy moved behind the two captured women, to stand near to the window. Mr Roller Rink leaned against the door frame. The other man had disappeared, the SGC team mates' could hear him moving around downstairs.

"Nice to see you." Vala lied, giving Charlotte a wide, fake smile.

The other woman laughed. "You too, Qetesh."

"That's not my name." Vala's face remained impassive, although her eyes spat out silver sparks. "Do you see any snake still in my head, sweetie pud? I think not! The name's Vala, and I'll thank you to remember that!"

Sam smiled encouragingly at her friend. "Well done."

"Thank you." Vala clenched her teeth together, trying to look calm and collected.

"Oh, give me a break with the sisterly bonding!" Charlotte rolled her eyes. "Now, your two little boy friends are sitting in our cellar downstairs, so they're not going to rescue you. Why didn't we remove Mr Boring Archaeologist's locator chip, you're asking yourselves?" She looked directly at Vala. "Because I want you to witness something, dear. You've plagued me for too long, in one form or another."

Sam looked at her team mate, puzzled.

The alien shrugged. "Not a clue, Samantha."

"You realize that they'll send someone out from the SGC to find us if we don't check in?" Sam told the Gou'ald.

"I think not." Charlotte held up a small device. "Voice changer. It can manipulate anyone's speech and tone. Dear Sergeant Harriman has already been told by Colonel Mitchell that Dr Jackson isn't here, and you're all heading over to follow up another lead across town. By tomorrow morning, when they realize something is wrong, you'll all be dead."

Vala wanted very much to grind her teeth.

Sam wanted to knock Ms Mayfield out of her extremely high heels.

"So, ladies," Charlotte continued, "you were interested in the drugs. FH One, Two, Three, Unas Deriviative – yes? FH means 'fertility hormone'. It increases the fertility of a chosen subject by over five hundred per cent. And Unas Derivative is exactly what it claims to be – a meld of Gou'ald and Unas DNA."

"You want to make lots of baby Unas'?" Vala asked, incredulously.

Charlotte laughed, and it was not a pleasant noise. "Don't be ridiculous. Why would I want to do that? Those primitive creatures are next to useless. Apart from giving up their DNA for our studies."

"Well, what then?" Vala frowned.

Sam was deep in thought. "Not baby Unas." She lifted her gaze. "Baby Gou'ald."

"Huh? Baby Gou'ald? Symbiotes?" Vala could feel the neurons in her brain frying as she attempted to work out what was going on. "You want to make smybiotes – how? Do you have a Queen? Or Hathor hidden in a closet somewhere?" she added, sarcastically.

"Hilarious." Charlotte stepped forward and slapped Vala hard across the face.

"Hey!" Sam stood before the sound of Tall Guy prepping his gun made her sit down again.

Shaking her hair out of her face, Vala's eyes were hard and glittered with fury. She glared at the Gou'ald business woman. "Love you too," she quipped.

"Hmm." Charlotte smoothed her own hair again before continuing. "No, in answer to your obnoxious questions, I don't have a Queen. That's the whole point, you stupid woman." She picked up one of the small vials and rolled it carefully between her fingers. "You don't know what these are for, do you?"

"I think so." Sam broke in. There was a long pause. "You're going to use those drugs on yourself. You're going to try and change your own biology so that you can create symbiotes. Like Hathor."

"Well done, Colonel Carter." Charlotte nodded approvingly at Sam. "As you are no doubt aware, the Gou'ald have decreased spectacularly in numbers, since the Tau'ri opened their Stargate. So much so that at this present time I believe that I am the last one on Earth. Well, apart from him."

She indicated Tall Guy, who's stern expression never altered.

"He's a Gou'ald too?" Sam watched him closely.

"Not quite." Vala was staring too. She swallowed, suddenly looking nervous. "He's the Ashrak."

A slight twitch of Tall Guy's lips was the only response.

"Well," Sam paused. "That would make sense."

"Well done again, you two." Charlotte applauded slowly. "Ivan is indeed an Ashrak. He's been very useful to me so far, haven't you?

Tall Guy, aka Ivan, nodded, smiling faintly. His eyes flashed gold briefly. "It is an honor, my Athena," he told her.

"Oh please!" Vala rolled her eyes. "Spare me the kissy kissy!"

"Very well!" Charlotte spoke sternly. "I've tested these drugs vigorously on many willing Unas' – Gou'ald and Unas physiology is remarkably easy to blend, did you know? Must be why our ancestors first used the dumb beasts for hosts. The Unas Derivative will encourage my body to produce tiny symbiotes. And the fertility hormone will bring my body into readiness and increase my ability to nurture and give birth to them. The process will take mere hours."

"That's what the bath is for!" Sam's gaze was intent on their captor. "All those gauges on the wall – they're to maintain the optimum environment for the new symbiotes!"

"Correct again, Colonel Carter."

"And Hathor's device…." Vala trailed off. "You really are trying to make an army!"

"Well, hardly an army immediately, but everyone has to start somewhere." Charlotte looked smug.

"And you're just – what?" Vala's eyebrows were raised as high as they could go." Going to kidnap random people from off of the streets and turn them into Jaffa?"

"Well, a little bit of that. But mostly I intend to pick and choose my warriors." She paused, a nasty glint in her eyes, and looked directly at Vala. "I think that I'll start with your Dr Jackson!"

Vala moved like lightening – she threw herself at the other woman, knocking her flying into Roller Rink Guy. Grabbing handfuls of the Gou'ald's blonde hair, Vala kicked her repeatedly, then moved her hands to scratch at the other woman's face.

Charlotte, taken off guard, wrenched Vala's arms away from herself, managing to get in a punch or two as well.

The two women were hauled apart by Ivan.

Charlotte, pulled her blouse down and smoothed her hair, attempting to regain her composure.

Still held by the Ashrak, Vala twisted in his harsh grip and attempted to kick him in the shins. Her face was flushed, eyes simmering with disgust - dropping her head a noise which sounded suspiciously like a tiny sob escaped.

"Oh, put her down!" Charlotte waved a hand in their direction. "Then go and fetch her boyfriend."

Ivan dumped Vala back into her chair. She wiped her nose on the back of her hand. "He's not my boyfriend," she said, huskily.

Charlotte didn't reply, merely glared.

Sam reached across and squeezed Vala's hand gently. "It's okay," she whispered.

Nodding, Vala didn't answer.

A few minutes later and Roller Rink shoved Daniel into the room.

The archaeologist blinked, eyes widening as he saw the two women seated before him.

"I thought that we'd do this in front of an audience," Charlotte told him, stroking one finger along his jawline.

Vala gritted her teeth, resisting the urge to hurl herself out of the chair again.

"Um – do what in front of an audience?" Daniel looked bemusedly at his captor.

Pulling open a drawer Charlotte lifted out Hathor's Jaffa making device.

Daniel blinked again. A moment of silence hit the room. "Oh dear," he said.

o – o – o – o - o - o -

Five minutes later and Charlotte Mayfield was looking distinctly unimpressed.

Daniel, somehow, seemed impervious to the combination of her mind-controlling nish'ta and the pheromones which her fertile body was secreting. Admittedly, the pheromones that Charlotte was awash with were synthetic, unlike Hathor's natural ones, which she had used to great effect back at the SGC in the late nineties.

_But still,_ thought Charlotte, _the effects of the pheromone should be heightened by my own nish'ta. Why does he not respond to me? These Tau'ri are a pathetic race! They cannot even serve a goddess in the correct manner._

Daniel, meanwhile, was looking mightily perplexed and rather uncomfortable, as Ms Mayfield alternated between attempting to kiss him and gently running her hands over his chest and back.

"Um.." he tried to disentangle himself as she honed in for a full on kiss. "Er…"

He stumbled back into Vala, a mild blush pinking his cheek bones.

Vala grinned up at him.

"Sokar's sword!" Charlotte swore, wiping her mouth as she pushed the archaeologist away. "It's you!" She pointed at Vala, who looked surprised.

"Me what?"

"You're the reason that he isn't susceptible to my pheromones and mind control!" Charlotte looked furious. "Your own overpowers mine where he is concerned!"

"My own what?" Vala was completely befuddled. "You're crazy you are. Crazier than me, and that's saying something. You're a fruitcake."

"Athena's right!" Sam was chuckling now. "Daniel likes you way better than her -." She indicated Charlotte with her head " - and the feelings that you two have towards each other are strong, very strong. Athena's nish'ta - her mind control - isn't even enough to bring Daniel around!"

Vala's eyes were huge. She felt like bursting into hysterical laughter.

Daniel looked as if someone had hit him in the face with a frying pan. _Not entirely sure that you really had to mention my feelings there, Sam,_ he thought to himself, blushing faintly again.

Charlotte looked as if she wanted to kill all three of them. Instead she opened the fridge, pulled out the dishes which held the two different types of drugs, and clicked together a needle and syringe. Flicking the lid off of one of the fertility hormone vials, she drew up the liquid inside it, into the syringe.

"Get him out of here," she hissed at Ivan, indicating Daniel.

The Ashrak hesitated infinitesimally – Daniel looked at him, also paused, then launched himself at the other man, knocking him against the surgical couch and making Ivan lose his balance.

Sam moved at the same time, kicking the small suture trolley on which Charlotte had placed the drug vials. It skittered across the room and the small dishes holding the drugs went tumbling to the floor.

Sam immediately began to stamp as hard as she could on the little glass ampules, Vala jumping up and joining in.

Roller Rink Guy raised his gun but didn't fire – Charlotte Mayfield was between himself and the action, plus everybody was moving too quickly.

Ivan swung Daniel around hard, the archaeologist's back was to Roller Rink who again readied himself to shoot but inexplicably the Ashrak's grip slipped and Daniel was able to turn again, putting his opponent between himself and the gun.

Vala lunged at Charlotte, who staggered back into the two struggling men. The Gou'ald's arm dropped, attention wavering for a moment, and Vala was able to snatch the syringe from her adversary's hand.

Sam, meanwhile, had finished with the other vials – they all lay smashed upon the floor.

Ivan rammed Daniel up against the door jamb, winding him – the archaeologist staggered and bent forward.

"Stop!" Charlotte yelled. She was furious, and kicked Daniel hard as he stumbled in front of her. "Give me that!" She held her hand out for the syringe.

"No." Vala's voice was deathly calm. She glanced briefly at Daniel, who gazed back up at her from where he had fallen.

"Don't," he began, but his team mate had already jammed the orange tagged needle into her upper arm and injected herself with the last remaining dose of fertility hormone.

"Vala!" Daniel hissed at her through his teeth. "What the hell do you think that you're doing?"

She shrugged. "Saving us from the Gou'ald, I think darling."

Roller Rink couldn't get a straight shot at Vala, Ivan was between them both, he lowered his weapon.

Charlotte didn't speak for a long few seconds. "Get them out of here," she said eventually. "Split them up – put Carter with the other Colonel. I don't care where you keep them, just get them out of my sight. I will be thinking up a very special punishment for them all. You last of all." She pointed at Vala. "And your sacrifice is in vain, I'm afraid. I already took one dose of fertility hormone and one of the Unas Derivative. This was merely a top up. I _will_ be fertile, and I _will _create symbiotes!"

Roller Rink dragged Sam off downstairs towards the cellar.

Ivan remained, brooding and morose, his gun trained on the two SG-1 members.

Daniel tapped Vala's elbow. "You okay?"

She nodded, already beginning to feel more than a little strange. Screwing her eyes up, she prodded Daniel hard, with her finger. "Are there two of you?"

"Are there – what?" Daniel tipped her head towards him. "She's – something's happened to Vala. She needs help!"

Vala's pupils were huge. She blinked drunkenly up at him.

Charlotte gave the other woman a cursory glance. "It's the hormone, idiot. She's increased her fertility and pheromone levels. It will work differently on her, as she's no longer a Gou'ald. Good luck fighting her off when you're locked up together - her nish'ta will be pretty potent by then too!"

Vala grinned lopsidedly and lolled back in her chair. She patted Daniel's six as he stood up. "Nice arse, darling."

Ivan shoved him back down again.

Roller Rink Guy returned from locking Sam in the cellar with Mitchell. He hauled a by-now very drunk looking Vala to her feet.

She let out a squeak of laughter. "Daniel darling, come along. I think that we're going to a party!"

The archaeologist moved quickly and took her other arm, looping it around his shoulder. "C'mon," he told her, not sure whether to be worried or amused. As they disappeared towards the bathroom – Roller Rink's choice of lock up – Daniel glanced back briefly, to see Charlotte pull the Ashrak close up against herself.

"You'll have to do instead," she told him. "I hope that you don't mind being a father."

**TBC...**


	6. Worries, Plans And Hormones

**Chapter 6 Worries, Plans...and Hormones.**

The wormhole fizzled and swooshed as it closed behind Teal'c. He made his way slowly down the ramp in front of the Stargate, a slight frown marring his countenance.

General Landry stood at the bottom, face expressionless. "Teal'c. Good to have you back for a while."

The Jaffa inclined his head, but his face still held a look of inquiry. "GeneralLandry. Something appears to be bothering you."

The chief of the SGC nodded briefly, before turning and leading Teal'c towards the infirmary. "Come on. I'll fill in the details while my daughter's busy sticking her needles into you."

A few minutes later and the General had told Teal'c the story of Daniel's kidnap and the subsequent deployment of the rest of SG-1 to locate him.

"That was …." Landry looked at his watch. "…over two hours ago now. We received a message from Colonel Mitchell just a few minutes ago saying that Dr Jackson wasn't at the premises but they had another tip to follow up. Somewhere on the other side of town."

Dr Lam slipped in through the curtains, holding a small dish with various blood-taking paraphernalia inside. She began to prep Teal'c's skin for a blood test. Silence reigned for a few minutes, before she smiled up at the Jaffa and left the cubicle.

"You have concerns over the whereabouts of SG-1 however?" Teal'c watched General Landry intently.

A short pause, before Hank nodded slowly. "Colonel Mitchell didn't say where their tip was. He gave no indication of exactly where they were going. But there's something else."

Teal'c waited, as the General stood musing for a few moments. "Come with me," Landry said eventually. "Walter's better at explaining this sort of thing."

- o - o - o - o - o - o -

The technician was busy dialing the Stargate for SG-8 when the two men arrived in the control room. After a few minutes, during which they all watched the safe departure of the team though the event horizon, Walter turned away from his desk and looked up at his superior officer.

General Landry gesticulated with his thumb towards Teal'c. "Tell him," was his succinct comment.

Walter cleared his throat. "Well, sir, Colonel Mitchell checked in fine, and all seemed normal. Except, when I tried to reach him again, his radio was down. As was Colonel Carter's and Ms Mal Doran's. Plus – there's something not right with their locator chips."

He swung about and brought up a map of the area on a computer screen. The time at the top indicated approximately two hours previously. "This was just after SG-1 had left to look for Dr Jackson," Walter told them. "His signal is quite clear – there look."

Sure enough, a small green dot indicated the whereabouts of the archaeologist.

"Now, this is what happened just after Colonel Mitchell called in." Walter pulled up another screen - there were four little green indicators now, three moving around, one still. Suddenly, the stationary dot inexplicably faded away. A few seconds later, and so did the other three.

Teal'c was looking perplexed. "Your computer appears to indicate that all of SG-1 have vanished," he said.

"You would think so, wouldn't you?" Walter looked up at the Jaffa warrior. "But this was about two minutes before Colonel Mitchell called in to say there were moving off across town. He didn't say exactly where. And before I could ask him what was up with their locator chips he'd signed off. And now we can't raise them. Any of them."

There was silence for a long few moments.

"It is almost as if…" Teal'c spoke slowly, thinking aloud. "…a person or persons unknown to us are attempting to disguise the whereabouts of SG-1 in a most ignorant manner. Someone who does not usually use such equipment, perhaps."

Landry squinted intently and pursed his lips. "You mean – somebody is making a hash of trying to put us off the scent?"

Teal'c nodded. "Indeed. Perhaps an adversary who is un-used to Tau'ri technology."

"Sir?" Walter looked up the SGC's chief inquiringly. "What should we do?"

"Well, there's definitely something funny going on." General Landry rubbed his chin and caught gazes with Teal'c. "How do you feel about taking SG-5 for a little spin about town?"

The taller man bowed. "With pleasure."

"Try the dental place, where SG-1 went first, and where we lost contact with them. And try to be…" Landry paused, hunting for the right word. "…unobtrusive. The whole thing is a mystery at the moment. We should assume that something is wrong, but we can't even do that for sure – the whole damn thing is heading towards another hideous scene that I'll have to try and explain to the IOA and the President at a later date!"

Teal'c bowed and left the other two men, heading off towards the locker room.

Walter pulled his face into the 'disconcerted chipmunk' look that he did so well.

Landry sighed. "Let's just hope that he turns up something," the General grumbled. "I've used the red telephone far too often recently!"

o – o – o – o – o - o -

Sam had been dumped most unceremoniously into the little store room where Mitchell was still being held prisoner. She glared at Mr Roller Rink as the door closed, then sat down near to her CO.

"So.." he began conversationally. "What's going on up there?"

"Our old friend Charlotte Mayfield is what's going on up there," Sam replied sharply, before filling him in on every thing that he had missed.

"Hmm." Mitchell screwed up his clear blue eyes in concentration. "Mayfield's trying to raise an army, she wanted to do it with Jackson but he's stuck on Vala."

"Yep." Sam blew out her cheeks. "Pretty much."

"And Vala's done her usual 'jump in without thinking' thing and turned herself into a boozed up flirting machine. She's locked up with Jackson somewhere, right?"

"Right. So I guess that Charlotte Mayfield will have to use someone else to make her freaky little babies with instead." Sam pulled a face. "If it was up to me, I'd use the Ashrak."

"Ashrak?" Mitchell looked confused. "What the heck has been going on out there?!"

Sam didn't answer. She was thinking. "I wonder if he's not been an Ashrak long though – is that even possible? Or do you have to be born one? It's just – I don't know, maybe I imagined it.." she trailed off for a while. "It's just – I could have sworn that he hesitated up there – before he went for Daniel. As if he wasn't sure what to do. The only other Ashrak I've met was completely and utterly ruthless. I mean, this guy's definitely Gou'ald, and seems pretty fierce. It's just – oh, I don't know. Perhaps he's just not a fighter – can you have an Ashrak like that? He lost his hold on Daniel a couple of times too, when we were smashing up the lab."

Mitchell shrugged. "If he's Gou'ald, then maybe he's affected too by all that – what do you say – nish'ta mind control? All those fertile ladies up there." The Colonel grimaced and shook his head.

"Maybe." Sam nodded slowly. "Yes, I hadn't thought of that. Perhaps you're right."

"So – do we just sit here or what?" Mitchell indicated the lack of windows or escape routes.

"Well – Mayfield said she'd think up a punishment for us. So I guess, we make a break for it when somebody comes to take us back upstairs."

"Sounds like a plan," Mitchell said. "A pretty crap one, but a plan all the same!"

o – o – o – o – o - o -

Daniel sat on the closed lavatory seat lid, watching his team mate with no small amount of trepidation.

Vala, face flushed, eyes sparkling and pupils hugely dilated was unmistakably on the prowl. She moved stealthily, if somewhat unsteadily, in the archaeologist's direction. Her trademark wide grin was plastered across her face as she held out both arms for balance. This still didn't manage to stop her careering into the side of the bath, causing her to wobble dangerously.

Daniel hissed and stood to catch her – he only succeeded in grabbing an elbow as he too lost his balance and they both ended up in the large, expensive bathtub that Sam and Vala had discovered earlier.

"Hello darling," purred his dark haired nemesis. She ran one finger carefully down her team mate's face, gaze intent and calculating. Her lips parted, those beautiful, wide lips, as she ran the tip of her tongue across them.

Daniel swallowed. Oh by the gods, she was incredible. He realized that he had licked his own lips in return – he wanted to do nothing more than press his mouth against her's and kiss her until her standard issue boots flew off of her feet in ecstasy.

"Enough!" he told her sternly, shaking his head and trying to push away. Having one of his arms trapped beneath her body made the maneuver somewhat difficult however.

Vala just laughed – a delicious, sexy, throaty chuckle as he struggled to extricate himself.

"Wouldn't you like to make love to me?" Pulling him closer, if that were possible, she draped one of her legs over his. By now, she was completely in the bath, Daniel half lying on top of her. "Come along darling, let's make babies! You know that I've always wanted to – make babies with you, that is." For a moment, there was a flicker of something else in those smoky blue eyes – a hint of desperation – before it was replaced by the predatory panther look.

"Stop it!" Daniel rolled her off of his arm and struggled upright.

Vala flopped away from him but continued to grin as she lay on the bottom of the tub. "Come back in here," she told him. "You're far too sexy to waste on that old battleaxe Mayfield."

Climbing out of the bath, Daniel felt distinctly more flustered than when he had fallen in. The ex-Gou'ald had certainly done something with those chemicals that she'd injected into herself. His heart was banging loudly in his chest, pulse racing, and something quite remarkable was happening lower down on his body. Something which hadn't happened in a long time.

Vala followed him clumsily out of the bath. She caught her foot and staggered, crashing up against him.

Daniel's face was very close to her own – her eyes locked on his.

The archaeologist's blue gaze was uncertain, almost afraid. His hands trembled as he moved them upwards to hold the tops of her arms.

Vala's own heart was thudding loudly in her ears – the overwhelming urges of the hormone were dragging her onward – she managed to stammer out "Daniel – I'm afraid that I…"

"Don't be." Her nish'ta sideswiped him completely. He lowered his head and kissed her, completely overcome with passion, and hormones and feelings.

Vala opened her mouth against his. The kiss was hard, probing and intense. She tried to mold herself even closer against him - Daniel merely held on to her tighter until she could barely breathe.

His hands were in her hair, he dragged her head back and ran his tongue down her jawline and towards her ear.

Panting, Vala pushed against him again, her own hands moving lower, nails digging into his back. She dragged at his T-shirt, pulling it loose from his pants.

Daniel pushed her away, eyes dark. He ripped his jacket off, then her own, before quite literally tearing away her little black tank top. The seams simply disintegrated as he tossed it aside.

Vala, now wearing just a cherry red lacy bra on her top half, pulled Daniel's shirt over his head. His glasses became tangled up in it – they went sailing across the room along with the top.

He grabbed her again, and pulled her in close, breath hot against her face.

Vala couldn't resist him – _and I'm supposed to be the one in control here?_ she wondered briefly, before coherent thought left her again. She was melting into nothing but hormones and instinct and passion – by the way he was behaving it seemed Daniel was too.

The archaeologist couldn't keep his hands off of Vala – he squeezed and pulled and pressed her close, closer, until he could barely breathe. And deep inside, he knew that it wasn't just her nish'ta and the hormones which were affecting him. It was Vala herself. This was what always would have happened when the two of them eventually gave in to each other. He didn't care. He should never have cared.

"I should have kissed you years ago," he groaned, as her tongue ran amok against his skin.

Vala didn't answer, merely hooked her leg around his and tossed him onto the floor. He ended up underneath, her long black hair tickling his face.

"That door had better be locked," she told him. "Because I'm about to be a very bad girl!"

**TBC...**


	7. The Babysitters

**Chapter 7 The Babysitters.**

The Ashrak, Ivan, held his precious cargo carefully in both hands. He walked steadily up the stairs to the bathroom where Daniel and Vala were locked in. The large aquarium that he carried held four tiny symbiotes, who swam around slowly within.

Charlotte Mayfield, herself slightly intoxicated by the foreign chemicals which she had injected into herself, tripped tipsily along behind him.

"Run the bath," she told Ivan. "Put them in there. I'll join them shortly, to enhance their imprinting."

Really, the Gou'ald should spend several hours with the little creatures, but time was of the essence. Charlotte needed to make herself several Jaffa before the night was out – the symbiotes were small for implantation but they would have to take their chances. Several SG teams were due to descend on the little dental surgery by morning.

Charlotte headed towards Roller Rink Guy – hardly my first choice, she thought, but he'll have to do. Pulling Hathor's device from her pocket, she beckoned him into one of the second floor surgery's, kicking the door shut behind him.

Ivan, meanwhile, had gently placed the aquarium outside of the large bathroom. He unlocked the door and entered, an uncharacteristic grin tweaking his lips when he saw the sight before him.

Daniel was spreadeagled on his back, on the floor, fast asleep. His head lolled slightly to the left side, face peaceful.

Vala lay on her front on top of him, hair spread in glorious disarray across her back and arms, snoring gently. Both of them were completely and totally naked, their clothes thrown everywhere around the bathroom.

Ivan grinned again, before reaching for a large bath towel, which he gently placed across the pair of them.

Neither person moved.

Then the Ashrak began to fill the huge bath with water, moving the gauges on the wall to ensure optimum temperature, acidity and softness. He opened a small cabinet on the wall to one side and flicked a switch – a soft hum began to emit from below the tub, indicating a tiny electrical charge was being discharged into the water.

The bath filled fairly quickly – after just a few minutes Ivan carefully transferred his precious cargo into the fresh water inside the tub. He glanced again briefly at the couple lying on the floor before leaving, shutting the door quietly behind himself.

The sound of the latch clicking back into place woke Daniel. He felt as if their was a ton of bricks on his chest – groggily opening his eyes he realised that it was Vala. Wrapping his arms tightly around her, he kissed the top of her hair, which was the only part that he could reach.

She moaned softly and turned her head towards the other side, bringing her own arms up against his chest.

Daniel felt as if he had the world's worst hangover. His head was banging like a drum, his eyes were aching and felt as if they were full of grit and his throat was on fire.

"Move," he pushed Vala half heartedly with one hand.

She grunted and stayed exactly where she was.

"I mean it." Daniel pulled ineffectually at her arm.

After a few seconds she pushed up on her elbows and looked down at him. Her eyes were dark, shadowed by the curtain of jet black hair which fell down on either side of her face and tickled the archaeologist's chest and arms.

"You mean what?" Vala still looked and felt part drunk – her voice was huskier than normal and her head felt as if it were full of cotton wool. She grinned, wide and lopsidedly, before lowering her face towards Daniel again.

"No! Nooooooo! Definitely no." Firmly, if somewhat unsteadily, the archaeologist extricated himself from underneath the alien, to discover that he was completely starkers. He blushed charmingly, and scooted off towards his boxers.

Vala lay back, uncaring, looking like a raven haired Venus from a Renaissance painting. She even tucked her hands behind her head and crossed her ankles. "Come back here," she murmured, cajolingly.

"Not a hope." Daniel tugged his underwear on quickly. He found her tank top, discovered it was unwearable, so tossed his own T-shirt back over his shoulder towards her. "Put that on."

Vala frowned. "I don't want to. Let's make love again, darling. You know that you want to."

"I don't!" Daniel swallowed, inwardly shouting _I do! I do!_

"Boring old fart!" Vala stated loudly, sitting up and dragging his black top over her own head. She giggled, as her head swam. "I don't seem to have any underwear on my personage, Daniel."

"Here." Her panties hit her in the face as he threw them backwards. Heaven knew where the cherry red bra had disappeared to.

Vala, partially clothed now, stood up. She immediately put her hands to her head as the room began to revolve. "Daniel," she said faintly, her knees beginning to give way.

Daniel caught her as she crumpled up before him. He sat down on the floor again, bringing her up close against his body. She was only out cold for a few seconds before those beautiful eyes re-opened and looked up at him.

"Okay now?" he asked.

"Mmmhmmm," Vala closed her eyes again and snuggled up against his chest. "My head hurts. My everything hurts." Suddenly her eyes popped open and she struggled forward. "Do you hear that?"

"What?" Daniel tilted his head, listening, but heard nothing except for the gentle hum of machinery. "You mean, that humming?"

"Maybe." Vala tiredly pulled herself into a kneeling position. "But there's something else too – pictures. I see pictures." She pushed her fists into her eyes. "Tell me you see it too, Daniel."

"I don't," he told her, beginning to feel disconcerted. "I only see you."

"In my head," Vala whispered. "People. And tunnels. Crystal tunnels."

"What the hell is…?" Daniel's voice broke off. He knelt up himself and peered over into the bath. "Oh my…" he couldn't even find the power of speech.

Vala lurched up next to him, distracted. "Oh – well. Look at that now."

Grinning, she trailed her hand in the water where the symbiotes were swimming around. "Aren't they just too cute?"

"Seriously?" Daniel's eyebrows were raised so high they nearly hit his hair line. "Get out!" he hissed.

Before he'd even had time to think or move, Vala had hauled herself over the side of the bath and was sitting in there with the baby Gou'ald.

"They like me," she told him, dreamily. Laying back against the tiles she summoned up a still rather drunk looking smile. "And the bath makes me feel better. Come and get in with me, Daniel."

There was a long beat. Afterwards, the archaeologist blamed the nish'ta, and Vala's wild uncontrollable hormones, but inside himself he knew that he'd have done it anyway. With barely a second thought, he climbed into the bath behind his team mate and held her close against himself, her back to his front.

"Mmmmm, nice," Vala relaxed back, eyes closed, arms floating gently out at her sides.

Daniel laid his cheek on top of her dusky hair. The water was beautifully warm and soft. The symbiotes came closer, they swam nearer and nearer to the two humans until eventually they were nuzzling at both himself and Vala. Almost like they need comfort, Daniel thought, as he watched them lazily.

Vala stroked one as it came close up to her stomach, "Hello," she said. It twirled in the water, but stayed close. "I think they like us." Her eyes were closing again, she drifted off to sleep, head becoming heavier on Daniel's chest.

He didn't mind. The last thing that he saw before he nodded off was another of the little creatures, pushing inquisitively at his elbow. They acted differently, he thought, to any of the baby Gou'ald that he had seen previously. Almost as if they were seeking comfort. "G'night," he told the tiny beast, dreamily, before his own eyes slipped shut.

o – o – o – o – o - o -

Sam lay dozing in the small locked cellar, head pillowed on her rolled up BDU jacket. Her blonde hair glowed faintly in the narrow strip of light which shone from underneath the door.

Mitchell checked his watch. 04. 12am. The graveyard shift. He wondered what was going on upstairs with Jackson and Vala – he trusted that they were still alright. There had been no sounds of tussles or explosions so he had to assume so.

_Wonder what the delightful Ms Mayfield is up to?_ he thought sourly. _How many Jaffa has she created for her little army?_ Mitchell shuddered inwardly at the thought of any more Gou'ald in the galaxy. It made him think, too – how many of them _were_ there left? Charlotte claimed that she was the only one left on Earth, apart from the Ashrak, but no-one was sure if there were others hiding, elsewhere in the galaxy.

The sound of movement outside their little prison made Mitchell stiffen and he looked towards the door. Something fell outside in the kitchen, a bowl maybe, it spun and rattled on the floor. Another noise – softer, more of a thud, followed by a muffled yelp.

Mitchell was on his feet now. "Sam!" He prodded her with his foot. "Get up!"

Sam shot up and onto her feet within seconds, shaking the sleep fog from her head as she stood. "What is it?" Creeping closer to the door, she tilted her head slightly.

"Get back!" Mitchell pulled her by her shoulder – just in time, as there was the sound of a key in the lock and the door swung open.

The Ashrak, Ivan, stood in the doorway, his expression unreadable. Behind him on the floor lay the unconscious bodies of Mr Roller Rink and another man.

There was silence for a few moments, before Ivan said – " Your friend – the Jaffa – is here." He stepped back, opening the door further, before turning quickly and leaving the room.

Sam looked incredulously at her CO. "What the heck was that all about?"

"Search me," shrugged Mitchell. "But let's get outta here and go find Teal'c! Be on your guard, Sam."

Nodding, his blonde team mate crossed the room quietly, picking up a dropped pistol on the way.

Mitchell tugged another gun from where it was partly hidden underneath Mr Roller Rink. Reaching the door, which had been left open, he peeped out to find the cellar stairs. He could now hear the very clear sounds of fighting above them.

"Ready?" Mitchell prepped the pistol that he was holding, looking back at Sam who was carrying out the same procedure.

She nodded.

"Then let's go!"

o – o – o – o – o - o -

The two Colonel's came out at ground level and followed the ever increasing noise of pandemonium up to the next floor.

The first thing that Mitchell saw were several member of SG-5 engaged in hand to hand fighting with various assorted adversaries.

One man struggled free of a young Lieutenant – Sam dropped him with a shot to the arm before he could do anything. He fell, crying out in pain, as the Lieutenant quickly rendered him out of action, by promptly sitting on him and pulling his arms behind his back.

The other three members of SG-5 looked as if they had their own fights well in hand – the Russian captain they had on secondment openly grinning as he cheerfully punched his assailant on the nose.

"Where's Teal'c?" shouted Mitchell.

"Upstairs," the young Lieutenant indicated the stairs to the upper floor with his head. "That Gou'ald lady went running off up there."

"C'mon," Mitchell led Sam as they both headed on upstairs to the top storey. The door to their right was open – the Colonels' arrived just in time to see Charlotte Mayfield, looking distinctly the worse for wear, disappear inside a transport beam.

"Dammit!" swore Mitchell.

"Indeed." Teal'c appeared from behind the door. His frown was deep. "I am afraid that I managed to break into this room too late. CharlotteMayfield had run from the floor below some moments previously, but I was unable to immediately follow her. My presence was required by SG-5 at that time."

"It's okay, big guy," Mitchell held up his hand. "No need to apologise. You did good." He glanced around the treatment room, noting the smashed vials, knocked over trolleys, and general air of disarray.

"Where do you suppose she put Daniel and Vala?" Sam wondered, perplexed. She nodded to the closed door opposite. "They must be in there. Sounds awfully quiet though."

With some misgivings, Mitchell stepped forward and tried the handle. It was locked. He took a step or two backwards then lifted his leg and kicked the door hard. It banged back on it's hinges.

Entering the room first, Mitchell trod cautiously, before stopping, straightening up, then beginning to laugh. Sam came in behind him, followed by Teal'c.

Daniel, rubbing his eyes blearily, looked up at them from where he was still sitting in the bath tub. "Hi guys," he mumbled, grinning wonkily.

Vala remained fast asleep, resting back on the archaeologist"s chest. Her head lay angled to one side – cheeks rosy, mouth slightly open and eyelashes spread like tiny dusky fans – she looked the symbol of serenity. The lower few inches of her hair swirled around in the water.

As did the tiny Gou'ald symbiotes, who nibbled and tickled at the bodies of the two humans who shared their watery home.

"What in God's name…" Mitchell's jaw dropped.

"Daniel?" queried Sam. She waved vaguely in the direction of the swimming babies.

"Oh – yeah," he looked down at them sleepily. "They're not ours. We didn't make 'em. They belong to Athena and the Ashrak guy. We're just babysitting."

"You're just …," Mitchell couldn't quite make proper words come out of his mouth. He paused, and shook his head. "Well, I hope you can explain all this to Landry when we get back!"

**TBC...**


	8. Hiding In Plain Sight

**Chapter 8 Hiding In Plain Sight**

It took quite some time to get the members of SG-1, SG-5 and their captives back into any semblance of order.

Mr Roller Rink and several of his friends were eventually handcuffed, lined up and taken off by SG-6 who had turned up to join in the fun.

Ivan the Ashrak had been discovered standing in the shadows of the alley opposite – almost as if he were waiting to be captured, the Russian Captain told Mitchell.

The Colonel nodded. _There's something odd about that guy_. He watched as Ivan was also handcuffed and led away to wait with his fellow Trust employees.

The Ashrak gave Mitchell a long, steady look as he passed.

Vala had eventually woken up, with the mother of all hangovers, and endeavored to clamber out of the huge bath tub. It took her at least ten minutes to locate what was left of her clothes and struggle back into them. Meanwhile Daniel's sopping wet T-shirt, which she still wore, left puddles everywhere as she moved. Vala gave up on trying to find her bright red bra – it appeared to have completely vanished.

"Come on," Sam took pity on her alien friend, who looked distinctly the worse for wear, and took her hand. "Let's get you back to the SGC and find you a coffee."

Vala nodded. "Alright. Thank you Samantha." She pointed into the bathtub. "What about them?"

The symbiotes were still swimming about energetically in their enamalled home.

"What's going to happen to them?" Vala asked again.

"I'm not sure." Sam pursed her lips and gave a little shrug. "We need to get them back to the SGC, and then decide."

"I suppose so. It's just…" Vala rubbed her eyes tiredly. "Oh, I don't know."

"What?" Sam put her hand on her friend's shoulder and squeezed gently. "What is it?"

"Well…it's like…don't tell me that I'm imagining it, Samantha, but I'm sure they were speaking to me." Vala's gaze was fixed on the tiny creatures again. She looked tearful. "I saw…pictures."

There was silence, before Sam hugged the other woman. "Come on. We'll work it all out back at the SGC."

"Okay." Vala allowed the Colonel to lead her out of the room and down the stairs.

Mitchell, who had behaved very well and not made a single comment about finding his two team mates snuggled up all cozy in the bath together, watched the women leave. The thought of Vala on the sexual prowl made the hairs rise on the back of his neck. The idea of her doing it with added ingredients didn't bear thinking about! He snorted suddenly, then tried to cover it up.

"Go on." Daniel sighed wearily. "Say it. You've been dying to since you came in here."

"No idea what you mean," Mitchell replied, virtuously. A pause. "Only thing which would have made it better was if you were both bare butt naked!"

"Oh, we were," Daniel told him. "You missed that part."

"Get out of here!" Mitchell's grin almost split his face in two. "You didn't..?"

"Oh, we did. More than once as I recall." Daniel felt a smile tugging at his own mouth. He tried to hide it, turning away to locate his boots.

"Sheeesh!" Mitchell shook his head slowly. "You're a dark horse at times, Jackson!"

The two men were interrupted by the young Lieutenant, Taylor, coming in with a large enamel bucket that he'd found downstairs somewhere. "Will this do, sir?" he asked, putting it down beside the bath.

"I guess so. It looks pretty clean." Mitchell inspected the bucket, then watched the symbiotes as they free-styled their way up and down the tub. "Better fill the pail with some of this water though. And give Sam enough time to rig up the electrics back in her lab – we wanna keep them in the best condition possible, I guess."

Daniel, having managed eventually to put his boots on, sat down wearily on the edge of the bath. "We lost Athena then?"

Mitchell nodded, soberly. "Yeah. She disappeared right in front of us. Must have a ship in orbit somewhere. Nothing showed up on the SGC sensors, so it had to have been cloaked."

"Sounds like the sort of thing she'd do." Daniel rubbed his eyes tiredly. "I need coffee, Mitchell."

His CO grinned. "Come on. SG-6 are taking the prisoners back." He spoke briefly with the other team leaders before heading out towards a waiting armored personnel transporter.

Sam was inside, she grinned at the two men as they pulled themselves up into the vehicle.

Vala was laid out sound asleep again, with her head in Sam's lap.

"It's alright for some," Daniel grumbled. He stayed sitting up, but the truck had only been moving for about three minutes before his own head dropped and he lolled against Mitchell.

SG-1's CO grinned. He caught Sam's eye – she was chuckling quietly.

"Naked," Mitchell informed her. He pointed with his thumb at Daniel. "Told me with his own mouth. Bare bucketty naked!"

o – o – o – o – o - o -

Vala went straight to the infirmary when they arrived back at Cheyenne Mountain - Carolyn suspected her hangover-like symptoms were a side effect of all the extra hormones that she'd taken on board the previous day.

The alien was so fast asleep that she didn't even wake when Daniel sneaked back into the infirmary and kissed her very gently on the forehead, after he'd checked that nobody was watching. He sat with Vala for a long time, his gaze searching, something different now in the depth of his regard. Daniel didn't even realize that he was stroking her hair, until Carolyn Lam came suddenly around the screens and made him jump. He blushed faintly before shooting off, but not without a backward glance at Vala who still lay snoozing on the trolley.

Carolyn chuckled inwardly as she watched him go. I'll have to give Walter a nod, she thought. That betting pool is getting pretty big now!

o – o – o – o – o - o -

14.00 hours and SG-1, minus Vala, were gathered in the briefing room.

"So," General Landry leaned forward onto the end of the conference table. "To surmise – we lost Athena but we gained an Ashrak. Plus four Gou'ald symbiotes. For want of any other word, Athena's babies." He paused, having a tough time coping with that last part of information.

The tiny creatures were at present swimming about in a large aquarium in Sam's lab. They had a steady stream of visitors – any member of personnel who found themselves down in the vicinity of level 19 seemed able to think up some kind of excuse that enabled them to come in and watch the odd little beasts.

Daniel kept stopping by to look at them too. He wasn't sure why, but some strange emotion kept pulling him back.

The symbiotes would swim up close to the glass when he was there – Sam said that the only other person that they had done that for was Vala when she'd looked in at them briefly.

"We know that Gou'ald symbiotes can communicate with their hosts, " Sam reminded him. "Although it's very rare. Perhaps that's what they're trying to do with you."

"Communicate?" Daniel looked incredulous. "Why on earth would they want to do that?"

"Well – you did spend quite a bit of time sitting in that tub with them! Perhaps they think that you're Daddy!"

Daniel's response had been unrepeatable.

So now, with General Landry stood in front of them, the team were being invited to give their opinions on what should happen to the tiny symbiotes.

"Their life should be terminated," Teal'c informed his friends, matter of factly. "We have spent many years fighting to eliminate the Gou'ald from this galaxy – to attempt to save these symbiotes may be the undoing of all our hard work."

"You mean, one day we'd be lookin' at four more System Lords running about out there?" Mitchell asked.

"Indeed." Teal'c inclined his head soberly.

"What about the Jaffa?" Daniel spread his hands out on the table in front of him. "Are there any members of Jaffa who need a new symbiote? As an emergency measure, or something?"

Teal'c paused, his lips pursed. "I can inquire for you, DanielJackson."

"Does it matter that much, anyway?" Mitchell looked pretty downhearted. "I mean – Athena, or Charlotte Mayfield - has gone and taken Hathor's device with her. She could be seducing some other poor guy as we speak, and creating her Jaffa army unchallenged. Before we know it, the Gou'ald could be on the rise again anyway."

"What do you think that we should do with them, then?" Sam asked her CO.

Mitchell shrugged, lifting his hands. "I have no idea. Even though they'll grow up to be Gou'ald, still seems kinda weird just to kill 'em in cold blood."

"We could do it humanely, if necessary," Sam told him. "Gradually infusing their environment with drugs would put them into a terminal sleep, I should think."

They were interrupted by a knock at the door. The young airman outside saluted before speaking quietly to General Landry.

After a few minutes the General nodded. He looked at Mitchell. "The Ashrak is asking to speak to Colonel Carter and Ms Mal Doran."

"What?" Sam stood quickly, confusion all over her face. "I mean, what, sir?"

Landry shrugged. "No idea. Go and sort it out. Now."

"Yes sir." Sam saluted and left, throwing Mitchell a bemused look as she went.

"Shall I..?" The other Colonel gestured after her.

"You shall." Landry's eyebrows were tickling the bridge of his nose now, is frown was so deep. "But keep a low profile."

"Yes sir." Mitchell followed his team mate, beckoning Daniel after him.

Landry was left alone in the conference room. "I don't get paid nearly enough for this," he told the empty air.

o – o – o – o – o - o -

Sam, accompanied by a still yawning Vala, was let into the holding cell iwhere Ivan was being kept.

The tall Ashrak stood as they entered, he watched the two women intently.

Sam returned his gaze.

Ivan's regard was steady, but not creepy, or unpleasant. After a moment he transferred his attention to Vala.

The alien woman also watched him without speaking, eyes crinkling slightly with concentration.

"You're not the same." Sam spoke eventually. She swallowed as the other two looked at her. "I mean – the other Ashrak who came here – he was different. Vicious. Harsh. A killer."

Ivan remained silent.

"In the treatment room yesterday – you hesitated. You gave Daniel time to prepare for your attack. And you let go of him, during the fight as if you were giving him a chance. As if you didn't really want to win."

"Now why would I do that?" Ivan's voice was soft, but there was a hint of a smile hovering about his eyes.

"I don't know." Sam shook her head.

"Why'd you let us out of the store room?" Mitchell, too curious to hide outside, stood in the door way. "Because you did. You knocked those guys out and set us free. Did you want us to catch Mayfield? What for?"

A long beat. Daniel came up slowly behind Mitchell.

Ivan studied both men carefully. "The Ashrak who came here before – he was searching for Jolinar of Malkshur?"

"He was." Now Sam was the one who kept her eyes on Ivan. "How do you know that?"

Even before the words were out of her mouth, Sam knew what his answer would be. Something had suddenly clicked in her brain.

Ivan briefly lowered his head - when he raised it again his expression was different – brighter, more cheerful. He spoke – and it was not with the distinctive metallic timbre that SG-1 loathed. "Because, Colonel Carter, I am not Gou'ald. I am Tok'ra!"

**TBC...**

**Well, I know that at least one of you lovely readers worked that one out! Thanks for reading - more soon!**


	9. After Effects

**Chapter 9 After Effects.**

It was true.

Ivan, the Ashrak, was a Tok'ra in disguise. His long term mission had been to infiltrate the Trust and gain the confidence of Athena. When he had been able to report back on her plan to repopulate the galaxy with Gou'ald, his instructions from the Tok'ra High Council had been to remain undetected for as long as possible before attempting to destroy any symbiotes which she managed to create. The arrival of SG-1 had been more than a fortunate circumstance.

"Athena still believes that I am loyal to her," Ivan told General Landry. "I will find her again, as soon as possible. My mission to relay important information back to the Tok'ra and yourselves must continue."

"Watch your back," Mitchell told him solemnly.

Ivan smiled. "I will."

The two men had formulated a plan between themselves – after a couple of days being 'held' at the SGC, an armoured personnel carrier would be used to carry Ivan supposedly to Area 51. While on the journey there he would make his escape – leaving Earth by his own small hidden craft up in orbit, then hunting for Athena out across the galaxy.

"Will we see you again?" Vala asked him, later, as she sat on Daniel's desk.

The archaeologist attempted to push her six off of his notes – she merely glared and slapped his hand.

"Watch it!" she growled.

Daniel backed off.

The earlier wild, excitable hormones had led to a huge depressive cycle in the alien today. Vala had snapped and snarled continuously since she'd got up that morning.

Ivan tipped her chin up with his fingers, smiling. "I am sure that our paths will cross again in the future."

Daniel frowned at the friendly banter between the two aliens. He shoved Vala harder. "Get off of my desk!" _Two can play at that game_, he thought.

Vala flounced off, slamming the door behind her.

Ivan looked down ruefully at Daniel. "I apologise," he told him. "It's the after effects of all those hormones. Do not fear, it will subside in a few days."

"It's fine." Daniel smiled up at their new ally. It was hard not to like the Tok'ra/Ashrak, now that they knew he was one of them. "I'm used to her. She doesn't need any extra hormones to act like that, anyway!"

Ivan watched him for a long beat, considering. "You are a good mate for her," he said, eventually. "You are the foil, the opposite to all that she is. The Gou'ald within her left much pain behind, but the woman who's body she inhabited looks to you to heal that pain. You manage her well."

"I – er – um – you what?" Daniel spluttered, reddening. "We're not – not like that – I mean…. I do what? She what? No – you're mistaken – she's not my…"

"I rather believe that she is," Ivan told him, softly. There was another long silence in the office before he nodded and exited quietly, leaving the archaeologist alone with his thoughts.

o – o – o – o – o - o -

Later that day, as Daniel busied himself in his office, the phone rang.

It was Sam on the end of the line. "The IOA's decided what they want to do with the symbiotes," she paused. Her voice sounded sad. "They have the death sentence, Daniel. It's been deemed too dangerous to allow them to live."

Daniel's stomach clenched and dropped. A cold flush seemed to spread downwards from the top of his head. The thought of the little creatures being killed was unacceptable. He couldn't even begin to explain it to himself, but something had happened in that big, expensive bath tub, back at the dental surgery. He was connected somehow – to the tiny baby Gou'ald.

"They can't," he managed to grind out, before he slammed down the receiver and ran from the room in the direction of Sam's lab.

When he arrived it was to find Vala standing with her arms spread as far as she could get them around the fish tank. "You can't take them!" she was yelling at Mitchell. "They're just babies! They haven't done anything wrong – it's murder! You'll be a murderer, Mitchell." A single tear slipped slowly down her cheek. "Please," she whispered. "Please, Cameron, please. Don't."

Mitchell's face was grave. "It's not down to me, Princess. The orders come from above. Even above General Landry. They can't live."

Vala dropped her head, resting one tearstained cheek against the glass. She closed her eyes tight, trying to hold in all of the grief and sadness and hormone related feelings. "Can't you hear that?" she asked, her voice catching in her throat. "It _was_ them all along."

Daniel moved gently up behind her and wrapped his own arms around her waist. "Come here," he told her, softly.

Vala shook her head.

Daniel tucked his own head over her shoulder, trying to comfort his extremely distressed team mate.

"They're just Gou'ald ,,,"Mitchell began, but Sam interrupted him, suddenly.

"Do you see that?" She was up close to the tank now as well. Placing her palms against the glass, she frowned.

"See what?" Daniel asked.

Sam paused. "Tunnels! Tok'ra tunnels – made of crystal.! And…" She jumped visibly. "Martouf!"

"That's what Vala saw – in the bathroom!" Daniel's voice rose in excitement. "Didn't you? Remember?"

"I see it now too," Vala wiped her nose on the back of her hand. "It's them – the babies. They're trying to talk to us."

The team were interrupted by Ivan entering the room slowly, with General Landry. Both men were smiling, a most unusual occurance for the head of the SGC.

The Ashrak placed his own hand against the tank. "You sense them now?" he asked. Taking one of Daniel's hands, he placed it against the wall of the aquarium. "The women feel it more strongly because of their past – being hosts to Gou'ald and Tok'ra. But surely you can feel it too?"

Mitchell approached quietly, laying his own palm flat against the glass. There was a pause, before - "Holy crap!" Mitchell jumped about a foot in the air. "Was that your Dad, Sam?"

"Yes!" The blonde Colonel had tears in her own eyes now. "Yes it was." She leaned forward and lay her forehead against the tank.

"Why don't you tell them?" Landry asked Ivan. The General had a most curious expression on his face.

"I don't think that you need to," Vala, eyes sparkling, had the most huge grin spreading across her face. She watched the strange little babies as all four of them swam close up to her, on the other side of the glass. "They're not Gou'ald at all, are they? They're Tok'ra!"

o – o – o – o –

"Kind of hard for 'em not to turn out alright, with you for a father and Jackson and Vala as babysitters," Mitchell told Ivan as they sat in the mess hall a short while later.

The Ashrak grinned. "The fact that Athena used Unas DNA was also her undoing," he told the Colonel. "Yes, we shared a common background, evolving on the same planet, but as you know the Unas are basically family orientated creatures. They are fierce but kind to those whom they befriend. Athena's hope of making true Gou'ald never stood much of a chance. And once Dr Jackson and Vala climbed into that bath tub it was over. They left their imprint on the symbiotes within minutes."

Mitchell looked up as the two unlikely step-parents entered the mess hall.

Vala was wearing Daniel's BDU jacket, she dropped into the seat next to her CO, immediately stealing the large chocolate cookie which lay on his plate.

"Feeling better, Princess?" he laughed.

Nodding, she widened her eyes and grinned around the huge mouthful that she'd just stuffed into her face. "Mmmm. And hungry. Do they have any ice cream on the menu, do you suppose?"

Ivan looked interestedly at his fellow alien. "I find ice cream to be the most curiously pleasant food that I've encountered anywhere in my travels," he told her.

"Oh, us too!" Nodding vigorously, Vala stood up and pushed her chair back. "Teal'c and I eat gallons of the stuff! It's delicious – better than anything. I'll go and see if Deirdre has any in the freezer."

"What are you going to buy the ice cream with?" Daniel asked, knowing full well that she had not a cent on her. As usual.

"Oh, your wallet darling," she winked, and held out her hand.

"It's in the left pocket," her long-suffering team mate nodded towards his jacket.

Vala plunged her hand in and dragged out the wallet – along with the cherry-red lacy bra.

"There it is!" she waved it delightedly in the air, to the amusement of everyone else in the mess hall. "You had it all the time! No wonder I couldn't find it."

Daniel dropped his head to his chest and tried to pretend he wasn't there.

"Just go with it, Jackson." Mitchell clapped him on the back, unsuccessfully attempting to hide his mirth. "Just go with it."

o – o – o – o – o - o -

Ivan left early the following morning, travelling as part of a heavily guarded convoy.

An hour after leaving the SGC General Landry received a call to confirm that there had been an 'incident' and the Ashrak prisoner was missing. About fifteen minutes later Walter called in from the control room to say that he had just tracked an unidentified craft leaving Earth's orbit before it disappeared through what he assumed was a sub-space window.

_Good luck_, thought Landry, directing his thoughts towards the Ashrak. He had a distinct feeling that they hadn't seen the last of their newest ally.

Meanwhile, down in the gate room, three members of the Tok'ra had come through from their home world to collect the baby symbiotes. They would be implanted into willing hosts as soon as possible.

"Tok'ra can implant much earlier than Gou'ald," Ivan had reminded them, earlier. "Because the relationship is an equal one and beneficial to both partners, rejection is unheard of."

"Can we name them?" Vala had asked. She was close up to the tank again, smiling benevolently at the creatures, who came as near to her as they could.

"No!" Daniel had insisted, firmly. "You'd be calling them names like Sawyer or Timberlake. Or what's that woman called – in that sci-fi thing Teal'c has on DVD?"

"Aeryn," Vala had replied, nose pressed against the glass. "Are you sure? She looks like an Aeryn – look, that one there."

"Nope. Leave it for the Tok'ra to name them."

Now it was time for the small creatures to leave. All of SG-1 were there to see them off, every member of the team feeling rather subdued.

"Heck, it's almost like saying goodbye to long lost friends!" muttered Mitchell gruffly.

The wormhole whooshed into existence, there was a brief conversation with General Landry, and exchange of farewells with their Tok'ra allies, then the symbiotes were gone, through the Stargate to their new home.

The team drifted off in different directions, Vala tagging along behind Daniel.

"They will be happy, won't they?" she asked, once they were back in his office.

"Of course." Glancing up from his work, he smiled gently.

Vala nodded. "It's just…they're so little! They were only born two days ago! What if they get homesick?"

Daniel stood and came to put his hands on her shoulders. "They won't get homesick. I don't think they _can_ get homesick! And you're bound to see them again – we have contact with the Tok'ra all the time. Sooner or later one of them, with it's host, is going to come walking back through our Stargate!"

"Yes. Yes. Of course." Vala nodded, then sighed. She hesitated, then laid her head against Daniel's shoulder. "It's just - …"

"Just what?" Instinctively Daniel wrapped his arms around her. An odd feeling began to suffuse his body. Pleasant, but odd. And most certainly not unwelcome.

"It's just…." Vala relaxed into her team mate's cuddle. "Perhaps, you know, just once – one day, well, maybe I'll have a baby who's a real human one. Not a Tok'ra or the Orici or anything else abnormal. It's not too much to ask for, is it?"

She tilted her head back to look up at Daniel, and there was a strange, lonely look in her eyes that the archaeologist had never seen before.

Before he could have second thoughts Daniel kissed her. He kissed her gently, tenderly and deeply as he pulled her close up against himself. It was a different embrace from their wild, hormone-fuelled sex fest of a couple of days earlier, but carried just as much passion. When they eventually broke apart, Daniel put his finger gently against Vala's lips.

"Sssh," he whispered. "I'll tell you now, Vala Mal Doran, what I told you in the bathroom at the surgery – we should have done this years ago. You stick with me, and I'll give you those babies one day! Agreed?"

Vala's smile was huge. "I agree," she murmured. "I love you so much Daniel, you blind idiot!"

The blind idiot didn't answer. He twanged the cherry red bra strap, that was just visible under her T-shirt, then returned to the serious business of kissing the woman he loved.

**The End!**

**Thank you to everyone who stayed to the end, and to all who went along with my possibly dodgy manipulation of Gou'ald biology :-)**

**Here's to the next one!**


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